His Slight Muse
by Anomilee1
Summary: A look at what would have happened if Rick and Michonne would have crossed paths earlier in the series. Interesting changes in the main story line with a lot of the major events still mixed in. Just read for better understanding. Rating will probably change to M later.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys! So I'm sorta new to the Richonne/TWD fandom. New as in I actually started watching the show when it first aired but then kinda fell of, not all the way, just not catching all the episodes like I did before (I missed the majority of season 2). I came back with the introduction of Michonne, I mean because how could you not, plus I hadn't read the comic so I was wondering who this awesome, mysterious woman was. I was obsessed her character from the beginning and I was pissed that it took as long as it did to give me more of her back story, but of course that kept me coming back. Then for life reasons I fell off again shortly after the meeting at the fence and was kinda splotchy throughout the rest of the series until about a 3rd of the way through season 6. I don't plan on falling off again because I recently binge watched all 6 seasons just to catch up on the things that I missed and to get my timeline straight, and of course I immediately became invested in the characters and even more obsessed with Michonne/Richonne. I read so much fanfiction...the story lines are starting to blend in with the actual story lines of the show. I did it also so closely together. I've been wanting to write Richonne fiction for a while so this is the beginning of my first attempt. There are some awesome fic writers in this fandom and some of you guys should seriously think about changing characters' names and getting your work published. This won't live up to their work, but I hope you find it enjoyable anyway, because I'll enjoy writing it.**

 **Alright, so now an intro to the fic itself. So this is basically my take on what would have happened if Michonne and Rick had crossed paths earlier in the series than they did. It won't follow the series exactly (obviously) but most of the big events will still occur. But I think it would have kept their characters from becoming so cold at certain points in the series and added an entirely new dimension to their characters (not that anything is wrong with the characters now, I just think having each other to lean on from the beginning would have made them different people than they are now). So they will still be just as badass, Rick will be just as cocky, slightly crazy (Seriously, Rick was certifiably insane when they first got to Alexandria. I like to think part of that was because he knew Michonne wanted it so badly that her guard might be down and he wanted to make sure that she was still protected, but he also wanted her to be happy among other things). Michonne will still be just as awesome and everything that she is. I was conflicted between posting this fic and starting a more Michonne worshiping one (especially since I've been seeing all the microagressive Michonne/Richonne hate), but I will prob get to that one later as a get further along in this fic...this one will still probs be worshippy.**

* * *

He surveyed his surroundings as he pulled up to the camp. It was a good location. Not for the current circumstances but, it would do. It had obviously been working for them. It was secluded enough. Away from areas that were usually frequented by large groups of people, and off the beaten path, so it wouldn't easily be happened upon by any random passers-by. But it wasn't too secluded. It was close enough to the city and to the main road that if help came, they wouldn't be too hard to find or impossible for the group to notice. But still, it wasn't necessarily a spot he would have picked. It was open. They were exposed. The space they occupied was not defined. There was nothing to defend except themselves and their stuff. They had no where to build, no safe space. But he would keep his critiques to himself. After all, what these people had obviously worked for them. This was their home now, and he didn't want to offend anyone. Though he continued to survey the landscape, looking for possible suggestions he could make.

He took a few steps towards Glenn, who seemed extremely pleased with himself until he started getting reprimanded by some of the occupants of the site. The first person he noticed was a lean, dark skinned woman with long hair that fell down her back and over her shoulders, a headband keeping the long locs from falling into her face. He gave her a once over without really meaning too. His view of most of the tenants of the camp was obscured, and of the ones he could see she was the one that commanded his attention, or anyone's attention for that matter. She stood out glaringly. But not in a bad way, at least he thought. Besides if the people he had come to know over the last few hours trusted her enough to leave her alone with their loved ones, he had no other choice but to trust her, and the rest of the people at the camp for that matter.

He watched still as she looked at Glenn, shaking her head disapprovingly but a small smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. Her mouth...his head tilted to the side slightly, acknowledging that something in him was already fascinated with this woman.

He managed to pull his eyes away from her long enough to look back at his friend who was being scolded by an older gentleman as everyone seemed to be in an uproar about the noise the car was making. Glenn tried to explain to them that he didn't know how to turn it off and soon the hood was flying up, obscuring his view of the rest of the group further. He watched as Morales bent to scoop up a couple of kids that ran to greet him, a beautiful woman following them, a large smile on her face at seeing their family unit reunited again. A sad smile played at his face remembering why he had gone to the city in the first place. He didn't know if it was a way to distract himself, but he found his eyes being drawn back to the dark skinned beauty who had just finished poking fun at Glenn as he tried to defend himself. He watched as something else caught her attention, causing her smile to disappear and a sad, empathetic look to overtake her face.

He again managed to tear his eyes away from her and started to walk towards the group as he heard someone say something about a new guy. He made his way around the car and was almost stunned into a state of catatonia as he noticed his best friend. The man seemed to have the same reaction as a look of...disbelief...overcame his features.

He could feel the man's name forming on his lips, but something else caught his attention, and he felt his feet beginning to move again, even faster than they were before. He couldn't...this couldn't... Not after all of the death and destruction he had seen. He couldn't have found them. Not this easily. No. Still he continued to move towards them.

Carl was the first to notice him. A huge smile brightened his face, his tears seemingly forgotten now.

"Dad!" she stopped mid stride as she saw the look on the boy's face. She had been on her way to offer her comfort to him as they had become friends during their time together at the camp. His mother seemed to be in a state and it didn't seem like her focus was entirely on being responsible for her son at all times. She seemed to think that it was the men's responsibility to keep all of them safe. And she wasn't passing judgment. Maybe Lori was still finding her footing, trying to find her role in this new world that they had been thrust into. She understood. All of their lives had been disrupted. They were all struggling trying to find their footing. She had no idea how that translated into not knowing where your kid was at any given moment given the circumstances the world had found itself in, but that was neither here nor there. She had taken a liking to Carl, who had taken a liking to her and her younger son. He was a sweet boy, so she had taken it upon herself to keep a subtle eye on him, as not to offend his mother,until she got her shit together. Which seemed to be falling further apart as she watched the scene unfold in front of her, the implications of what it meant for the people involved dawning on her as she watched the woman throw herself in the new guy's arms, who was obviously her dead husband, her current lover's best friend.

"Mommy," she heard and managed to reel in her outdone-ness in order to give a smile to the toddler that was now launching himself at her.

"Hey, Peanut," she grunted out as she lifted the weight of the small boy, securing him to her hip as her eyes drifted back over to newly reunited family. She glanced at Shane, who seemed to be in a state between pissing his pants and his head exploding. She looked back at the two embracing adult, the little boy between them seemingly so happy, and she felt fear rising up in her chest for him. The world had already gone to shit and he had already had to deal with the loss of his father and childhood within a matter of a couple of months. She hoped that whatever mess the adults had evolving around them didn't cause him any more grief. Carl loved his father fiercely and he loved Shane as his father's best friend, and the man had clearly tried to take on more a paternalistic role in the boy's life since his father's suspected passing. And Carl had began buying into it, she just hoped that he didn't end up getting hurt.

"Well shit," she heard coming over her right shoulder, and turned to see Andrea standing next to her and taking in the scene. They shared a look before her eyes drifted back to Shane, then the family.

"Tell me about it," she turned back to the woman."Did you guy's get anything?"

"Yeah," Andrea told her. "Not as much as we would've liked but we got trapped."

Michonne nodded, knowing something had to have happened for them to take so long and then for Glenn to come riding in like a bat out of hell with that walker baiter.

"Loss something too," Andrea told her with a cocked eyebrow.

Michonne looked around the group, as she slowly realized what or who was missing. "Where's Merle?" She wasn't particularly fond of the man, but she tolerated him mostly for the sake of the group and his brother. Daryl was a little standoffish but he was better than Merle. He seemed more like a shy, kindred spirit.

Andrea just shook her head. "Daryl's going to be pissed," was her response.

* * *

Carl's head turned to his left as he noticed movement coming from the other side of the fire. They had just finished having dinner and he was in a deep conversation with his dad. He hadn't let go of the man's hand since he arrived at the camp, and they hadn't stopped talking either, well except for a few minutes here and there for his mom and dad to make sweet eyes at each other. He had missed his dad, and didn't think he would ever get to see him again, so he couldn't contain himself when he realized that he was no longer a fatherless boy. He watched as Michonne scooped up Andre and rose from her chair. He realized, he hadn't spoken to her the entire evening and even further, he hadn't introduced her to his dad. He hadn't introduced the coolest people he knew pre and post apocalypse and he was excited for his dad to meet his new friend because she was so cool. Well, they knew each other's names from Glenn's brief introduction of everyone.

"Michonne," she heard her name being called and stopped at the opening of her tent. Adjusting Andre, who was quickly falling asleep in her arms. She hadn't had time to turn completely around before she heard her name being called again, just as eagerly as the first time.

She smiled as she already knew who it was and found Carl running towards her, dragging his father close behind him. "Hey bud, what's up?" She asked running her fingers through his hair admiring his new haircut and happy his hair wasn't obscuring his view anymore.

"I wanted you to meet my dad," he told her smiling up at the man proudly.

Michonne smiled at the sparkle in the child's eyes as she glanced up at the man then looked back down at the boy. "Yeah, I was starting to think you ditched me after your dad got here." Carl smiled shyly. She then turned to the man with the same piercing eyes and reintroduced herself formally.

"Hi, I'm Michonne," she smiled at him, and reached out her hand to shake his.

"Rick," he said not being able to look away from her eyes, and almost forgetting to let go of her hand. He was seriously enchanted by this woman and he didn't quite know why. It wasn't anything sexual, he was still very much attracted to his wife, he thought before giving her a once over. Although it could've been, because the way her pants hugged her obviously toned calves, thighs and backside, which he had found himself inadvertently starring at every now and again, before stretching over the enticing curves of her hips to stop short of where her shirt began, revealing the lower segment of her toned abdomen before the tight fitting shirt began, showing off her slender waist before stretching further to accommodate the swell of her pert breasts. No, it definitely wasn't a sexual attraction.

It was more of that feeling you got when someone said and did a string of things that resonated with you so deeply that you had no other choice but to seek them out just so you could find out more about them. The only problem was she hadn't done or said anything other than what everyone else at the camp was saying. But he felt like a kid meeting someone he wanted to be best friends with. He just felt a pull towards her. Maybe it would fade away in a few days, who knew?

"You doing, okay?" she asked nodding at him, as she brought the hand she had just offered him back around the toddler in her arms. "It can be pretty traumatizing having a bushel of dead squirrels thrown at you." She smiled and he suddenly felt like the sun had decided to make a reappearance to battle with the moon for the rights to the sky. He almost looked up at the sky to double check, after all, it wouldn't have been the craziest thing that had happened in the last couple of months.

He laughed softly, and shook his head remembering the events from earlier that day. He felt awful about leaving the man's brother behind, but it wasn't done intentionally, though he had promised the man that he would go back with him to search for his brother. "Yeah, well, I guess I didn't make the best first impression on you guys."

"Mmm, you did okay," she reassured him. "Daryl's rough around the edges but he's a big teddy bear underneath all that leather, grime and emo teen persona he has going on. Plus anyone who's on this guy's cool list is a friend in my book," she said ruffling Carl's hair again.

Rick turned to his son to see his smile grow even wider. He couldn't help the smile that came to his face as well. He was starting to think that maybe he wasn't the only one she had that effect on.

Andre sighed and made to do a large flop in his mother's arm, but before he could she placed her hand on his back to make sure he didn't flop completely out of her arms. He settled on turning his head before letting it fall heavily back onto her shoulder.

"We better get to bed," she smiled back at them.

"Aww you're going to sleep?" Carl asked disappointingly.

"Yeah," she told him. "You know Dre. He's a lite weight," she nodded to the boy in her arms.

"But it's still so early," he protested.

"Well you guys tired him out at the lake today," she told him. "He's a little guy, he can't hang with the big kids just yet."

Carl looked down dejectedly. He had wanted them all to talk, so she could convince his dad how cool comic books and everything else they had in common was. Maybe he'd listen if it came from another adult.

"Carl," Rick said with a laugh, amazed at how cranky his son had become at realizing that he wouldn't get what was obviously his frequent quality time with the woman. It was clear he had taken to her quickly and firmly,"She has to put him to bed, son."

"I know," he replied sadly.

Michonne looked down at him, feeling a little guilty that she was turning him away when all he sought was her attention. "I tell you what," she offered. "How about I see if Ms. Jaqui will watch Dre so we can do a quick perimeter check?"

Carl's face brightened, and Michonne smiled at him before telling Rick she'd be right back. He watched as she walked over to the older woman and started a conversation. The older woman looked conflicted as she looked over at the two men sitting near the opening of Michonne's tent. He watched still as Michonne tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow before replying to whatever the woman had just said.

"Girl, I don't want to be caught in the middle of whatever you two have going on," he overheard Jacqui say and suddenly became more interested in what was being said between the two women.

He noticed some movement near her tent and noticed one of the men standing as he glared over at the two women. Michonne continued to discuss with the woman. After a few more exchanges, the woman sighed visibly before reaching out her hands. Michonne shifted the young boy from her shoulder and into the waiting arms of the woman standing in front of her. Jacqui then said something before nodding towards Michonne, causing her to turn around.

Rick noticed one of the men walking towards them, as she folded her arms and shifted her weight to her left leg, as if preparing for an argument. Jacqui disappeared into her tent with the boy.

"What the hell is that Meesh?" the man yelled, not bothering to hush his tone as the two women had been previously doing. "You don't trust me to watch my own son anymore?"

Rick's eyebrows raised, so one of them was the father of her son. He'd figured either him or the other guy was, but he hadn't seen a ring on her finger and her relationship with both of them seemed estranged. He had seen her hugging her son's father earlier but it seemed more like a comforting hug shared between recently quarreling friends more than one shared between lovers.

"Mike, calm down," Michonne said dismissively. "I'll be gone ten minutes at most."

"And you don't think that I can keep him safe while you're gone?" he questioned stepping closer to her.

"Your words, not mine," she said turning to walk away but he grabbed her arm. She pulled away from him.

"He's my son too," the man spat at her. "I can take care of him."

"Well prove it then," she said, her anger visibly growing. "Show me you can take care of yourself first, then, maybe, I'll think about trusting you with my baby. For now I don't. You want to change it, then get your shit together."

She stalked away from him and towards Rick and Carl. Rick grabbed his son by the shoulder and pulled him next to him and out of the woman's path. He didn't know if she was seeing straight enough to not run him over as she got closer to them.

"Com'on," she growled as she headed towards the trees, not missing a step.

* * *

"I know," she told him as they walked side by side, Carl a few steps ahead of them, "it seems a little crazy. Everyone thinks I'm wasting my time. But it helps to ease my mind if I know they haven't breached a certain area around the camp."

They had made it halfway around the 'perimeter'. At first, he had tried to get her to talk about what had just happened between her and the guy back at the camp, but she had refused, saying it would just serve to make her angrier, and it would be no fun for him to do a perimeter check with her while she was angry.

Rick nodded as his eyes drifted from the sheathed sword on her back to the makeshift perimeter she had set up around the camp. It was sticks stuck in the ground with some wire wrapped around them and stretching from one to the next. There were small piles of leaves trailed just on the inside of the perimeter that had been bunched together, he assumed any distortion of the leaves would clue her into the barrier having been breached.

"The kids helped me to set it up," she told him. "I thought it would take forever but you'd be surprised what a bunch of bored kids could do when given such a tedious task." She smiled up at him before her eyes traveled a few feet in front of them. She warned Carl not to get too far ahead of them and the boy immediately slowed his stride, but still shining his flashlight on the trail of leaves.

"Yeah, well," he started, "I think it's a great idea. Not the best protection, but something's better than nothing."

She sighed and turned her head to the side. "I keep telling them," she offered. "We need to move. Find some place safer, but no one listens. She was about to make a comment about the leadership, but she knew he and Shane were best friends, so she refrained. "I wanted to leave, but Mike and Terry are afraid to leave the group. Which I get it, it's safer in numbers, but it's also safer if you have more than open space between you and them."

"Why don't they want to leave?" Hell, he had wanted to leave since he'd gotten there. He'd hoped it was just a rendezvous point, but he quickly noticed it wasn't by the way everyone looked settled into the area. He'd wanted to take his family and the rest of them, and go somewhere more secure, but again, he didn't want to be the asshole newcomer suggesting they just disrupt what had obviously become their new normal.

"That," she looked up at him with a judgmental and unamused look, "you would have to ask your friend Shane." He continued to look at her. "When we found this group, he had already started taking on the role as leader. From the jump I was never really impressed with his leadership skills," she continued jokingly, but with a serious undertone. "The camp we had been staying at had been overrun about a week before and we had been on the run ever since. We needed a break. I needed a break, I needed a minute to just think," her speech slowed. "I had to keep my baby safe...Mike and Terry...they've been...out of it since all of this happened."

He remained quiet, waiting for her to continue. She did. "Everyone seemed relatively nice, so we stayed. I had only planned to stay one night, two at the most. But Mike and Terry, they were scared...afraid to leave. I couldn't just leave them...so, we stayed."

She looked up at him with a smile that didn't reach her eyes like the one she had given Carl earlier. He smiled back at her, and she looked back in front of them making sure Carl hadn't gotten too far ahead of them.

"What about you?" She asked him."How'd you end up finding Glenn and the group?"

He sighed before he started talking, telling her his whole story, from being shot to waking up in the hospital, to wandering home to find his family, Morgan and Duane, continuing the search for his family.

"Soo, you decided to just waltz into a city full of walkers to try and find them," she said a hint of amusement in her voice. He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile as he looked away again. She was teasing him. "And what was the sheriff uniform supposed to do?"

"Look," he said trying to hold back a laugh as she giggled, "I found them didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said nodding as their laughter started to die down, "you did." She waited a beat as the gloom of their reality started to fall back over them. "Unfortunately...that may have been the easy part."

"Yeah," he agreed.

They continued on in silence for a few more moments before she noticed that a part of their makeshift perimeter had been disturbed. She shined her flashlight in the area. Whatever it was it surely had not bothered with trying to cross into the territory incognito. She shined her light around the inside of the perimeter and saw a boot print.

"You think it was one of them?" He asked.

"Either that or someone was injured," she said continuing to shine her light on the trail of footprints. "Look how the prints drag."

She continued to follow the footprints with her light and Rick noticed that what or whoever it was had gone off in the direction ahead of them. He noticed Carl was still slightly ahead of them as well.

"Carl, get..." Before he could get the rest of the sentence out a walker lunged at him from behind the tree.

The boy screamed as he fell to the ground. And Rick pulled out his gun as Michonne started towards him, her Katana already in hand. The walker went for him again, but he was able to roll away from the corpse just as it pounced.

She heard a shot coming from somewhere behind her and saw that it just missed the walker's head as he disappeared behind a tree, going after the boy.

"Don't shoot the gun," Michonne admonished him.

"I know, I know," he said scolding himself, as he raced slightly ahead of her in the direction Carl and the walker had gone.

"Dad!" They heard him calling.

"Carl!" Rick called back trying to zone in on where his voice was coming from.

"He's fine," Michonne said, already discerning that the boy's voice was coming from slightly higher up than they were. "He knows what to do."

What did that mean? Rick wondered. He was an eleven year old boy, whose world had just turned upside down. They, as adults, didn't know what to do, so how could he possibly know what to do?

They came to an abrupt stop when they saw a walker clawing at a tree. The looked in the tree and could see Carl's sneakers as his feet worked to keep his footing, slightly out of the walker's reach.

"I've got'em," Michonne said as she walked over to the tree. The walker noticed her approaching and turned his attention to her. As soon as she was within distance, she lifted her sword and sliced diagonally through the walker's head, a slight grunt leaving her small frame as she did so.

Rick stood in awe at what he had just witnessed. He had seen her carrying the thing, but he hadn't imagined that she could use it with such grace and power. His eyes stayed on her until she walked closer to the tree and reached up a hand to help Carl down.

Rick ran over, wanting to check his son over for any scratches. Michonne had started the process before he made it over to them.

"I'm fine," Carl said in a voice that let them know that he was quickly becoming exasperated with his impromptu physical exam. Still she turned him and lifted his shirt to check his back.

Rick dropped to his knees and gathered the boy in his arms. "Dad, I'm fine," Carl tried to explain once again, but still hugged his father back.

Rick finally let him go only for him to be met again by Michonne's mostly fearful, yet somewhat scolding tone."You stay close, or next time you stay back at the camp."

"Sorry, Michonne," he said, his eyes turning towards the ground. She just stared at him a second before pulling him into a hug. "Come, here." Rick looked on as he watched the woman hold his son, her eyes closed and a sense of relief and residual fear on her face.

"Be careful, " she told him, as she pulled away and looked him in the eye. "Don't be sorry. I told you, we don't have that leisure anymore."

"I know, I'm sorry," he reiterated, not knowing what else to say.

"It's okay bud," Rick said as he ran a hand through his son's hair. "Just don't let it happen again."

"I won't, Carl reassured them," with a smile. Happy that he wasn't in as much trouble as he could've been in.

"They're getting closer," Michonne said, breaking the silence. "They've never breached the perimeter."

"There's not much of a perimeter to breach," Rick reminded her.

They shared a look, both of them acknowledging that they couldn't stay there much longer.

"We better get back to the camp," he told them. "They're gonna be worried after hearing that gunshot." She nodded and the three of them headed back in the direction of the camp.

* * *

 **A/N: There's the first chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Review and let me know.**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay, here's the second chapter. If anyone would like to be a Beta for this story let me know. The program I use to type the chapters up isn't really compatible with the FF website, I guess, since parts of my sentences always come up missing and I always have to go back and undo things that it's done in transferring the chapter over.

* * *

"Hey," Andrea said walking up behind her friend and placing both of her hands shoulders.

Michonne turned her head slightly to look back at her. "Hey," she greeted. "What are you up to?" She smiled seeing the mischievous smile on the woman's face.

"Oh, nothing," Andrea told her. "I just decided to come help you out. The rest of the girls are fun but they aren't really giving me the juicy stuff," Andrea said nudging her as she began to help her take down the clothes from the makeshift clothes lines.

"And what juice would that be?" Michonne asked, pausing her chore for a moment to turn towards her friend.

"You know," she told her. "How little miss homemaker is going to make a decision between her husband and her boyfriend."

"Drea, come'on now," Michonne said trying not to get caught up in the gossip, though she did find the predicament pretty interesting. She would just rather not bud into other people's business. Plus, she already wasn't Lori's favorite person which the woman had made obvious over the last few days. She had always known, but since she had volunteered to go on the rescue mission for Merle, the woman seemed to have taken more of a disliking to her. Michonne really wasn't her biggest fan either and that was mostly because she came off a little flaky and needy, a damsel in distress type. And she had no problem with that, she had played that card many of times herself,back before the turn, but now was not the time.

"Come'on my ass," Andrea told her. "She doesn't only hate me now, she hates your ass too. The two bitches that stole her boyfriend and her husband."

"Really Andrea," Michonne said giving her a look. "Why do you keep on trying to insist that because you're hot behind Shane, I'm hot behind Rick? You and I are two different people and I actually have a three year old son to focus on keeping alive. I can't be concerned with getting laid all the time."

"Oh, come on Miesh, it's not all the time," Andrea defended. Michonne gave her a look that made both of them laugh. "Plus I didn't say that it was you who was hot behind him." Andrea paused and nodded at the path leading from the lake back to the campsite. "That man can't keep his eyes off of you girl."

Michonne turned to see Rick stalking towards her with that bow-legged strut of his she found absolutely adorable. Over the last few days and after heading into the city on a rescue mission together, they had become closer friends. Andrea may have thought they were sharing looks of infatuation, but she assumed she was referring to him often trying to catch her attention to communicate with her about something. They were currently trying to convince Shane to convince the rest of the group to move. She had all but convinced Andrea to be on board with their plan, and if Andrea went, that meant Amy went. If she took Andre and they had a few other people in their group, she was sure Mike would be on board and Terry would follow. So that left her group, and Rick's family. She was sure they could convince T and Jacqui, Carol would do whatever Ed would do and she would leave him up to Rick because she hated the man's guts and would probably end up spearing him with her sword if she was forced to interact with him. So that would leave, her and her group, Andrea and Amy, T and Jacqui and Rick and his family. Jim and Dale could go either way, and she was sure that Daryl would probably follow now that he wasn't expecting Merle to return to the campsite looking for them.

"Guess that's my que," Andrea said touching her on the shoulder again. The blonde then started to walk off back towards the lake to finish helping the other women wash. "I'll be back to help you in a bit," she threw over her shoulder.

Michonne sighed and shook her head. She turned her head towards Rick when she heard his footsteps approaching.

"Hey," he shot her a smile.

"Grimes," she greeted him with a warm smile as she went back to taking down the clothes. "What you got?"

"Well I talked to him," he informed her.

"And?" She encouraged him to continue when he didn't.

"He's still not convinced," he finished.

"Of course he's not," she said with a frown. "We can always just leave him." She said her tone serious with a hint of frustration.

Rick's body language showed how much he hated that idea. "Yeah," he stated shifting to his left leg and putting his right hand on his hip as he ran the fingers of his left through his hair. "I don't want to do that."

'You might change your mind if you knew he was fucking your wife,' she was tempted to say, but she held her tongue. Her intentions here were not to hurt Rick. He was doing nothing wrong, just trying to be an honorable man and a good friend. So instead she said. "I know you don't,"she gave him a sympathetic look as she took the last piece of clothing off of the line.

She stooped to pick up the basket of clothing, before standing and looking back into his eyes. He took a glance around the lake, both his hands on his hips now as he squinted at the brightness of the day. "You know I've been thinking about what you asked me the other night," he started, "we'd have a better time convincing them if we had some place safe to go." She looked up at him expectantly. She knew that him bringing it up again, meant he had come up with a plan. "Before, I got to the city, I heard them saying something about the CDC over the radio. Now I know that place has all kinds of precautions for all kinds of things."

"Yeah,"Michonne said sounding more hopeful about them actually convincing everyone to get their asses out of there. And even if they had to leave a few people behind, even if Rick didn't want to leave Shane, he knew that he eventually would if it meant keeping Carl and Lori safe.

He continued, "I chaperoned a field trip there for Carl's class once. They have a lock down mechanism. They lock everything down. Keep anything from getting out, or in."

"Well that settles it then," she told him. She was about to say that they should head out at first daylight the next day but she was interrupted by an upset Andre, tears streaming down his face.

"Mommay," he said his hands stretched out towards her.

She barely had a chance to set the basket down before he was throwing himself into her arms. She scooped him up. "Baby, what's wrong?" she asked before she began wiping at the tears.

Both the adults shared concerned looks, Rick doing a quick check around the area to make sure none of the 'stinky monsters' had scared the boy.

"Cawl's being mean to me," he sniffed out.

From their opposite reactions, it was obvious that the two people had different levels of experience with their children's bickering. "How was he being mean to you?" Michonne asked, fighting her way past the child's curls to lay a kiss on top his head.

"Carl!" Rick called to get his son's attention. He hadn't really got to see the two of them interact but he didn't want his son bullying anyone, but especially someone smaller than him.

The older boy looked in the direction he heard his dad's voice coming from with a confused expression. He saw his father wave his hand, gesturing for him to come over. He looked between the two adults and the curly headed toddler and his mouth fell open. He knew what this was already, and he was about to try to defend himself. His dad picked up on that and said, "Get over here," before he could get a word out.

"Can I cry now Mommy?" Andre asked, ignoring his mother's questions.

Rick looked back at the mother and son as he registered the question the child was asking. She had even trained the boy to be quiet. To get permission that it was safe to cry or throw a tantrum, as he picked up on it was more of the later they were bordering on. He looked at Michonne as she stared at the boy, a smirk on her face, impressed at the way she had adapted her mothering skills to fit this new world they had been tossed into.

"I didn't do nothing," Carl said as he approached them.

"He wouldn't let me catch frogs with them," Andre finally admitted.

Rick looked at Carl waiting for an answer as Michonne smiled down at him. She knew that Andre was probably being dramatic. She had soon learned after arriving at the group that her son and her young friend were best friends one minute and fought like cats and dogs the next. At first she'd been a little concerned about it but she had soon learned that her son was perceptive and knew that he could get Carl in trouble easily since the adults tended to take his side, including Lori just because he was 'a baby'. She realized that Carl admired her and had too much respect for her to ever intentionally hurt Andre. One time Carl had been sent to the RV for almost an entire day after pushing Andre and causing him to cut his knee. The first thing the boy had done upon being allowed to exit the camper was find her and apologize for hurting her son. He had admitted everything that happened. He had told Andre not to climb the tree they were climbing for fun and Andre had started throwing pebbles at him, hitting him multiple times and being told to stop multiple times. Carl had lost his temper and pushed the smaller boy causing him to trip and hurt his knee. He had admitted he didn't see the large rock the boy had tripped over and he hadn't meant to shove him into it. Carl had broken down crying in her arms and she had ended up comforting him too, reassuring him that it was alright and that she didn't think ill of him because of the incident. Before all of this, her son had had cousins, and other playmates, him getting into altercations with other kids wasn't new to her and she knew Carl hadn't meant to hurt him. So yeah, this wasn't new to her.

"The water was too deep," Carl defended. "He keeps trying to come out further with us, and he keeps falling into the deeper part and I kept having to go back and get him because the water was over his head." Every time Andre would venture out too far and walk off the small underwater cliff, he found himself struggling to stay above the water. Then he would call out to Carl for help and Carl would have to stop playing to help him back into the more shallow part. "He's too little to come out where we are."

"Waaahh," Andre's head fell back as he let out a loud wail. Not loud enough to draw any walkers, but Michonne covered his mouth with her hand none the less. It was so dramatic and sudden, Rick couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. He guessed she hadn't perfected her new parenting skills just yet. Michonne's face split into an even larger grin after hearing him laugh, like she said, her son knew when and how to put on a performance. "Not so loud Dre."

Andre responded by looking at Carl, "I not too little," he hit at the boy.

Carl smiled, "Yes you are."

"Nooooo!," Andre wailed again. Again Michonne covered his mouth. "Dre," she said firmly, trying to hide her amusement at Rick cracking up now. She looked at Carl and gave him a look, he smiled back at her shyly. He had apologized for hurting Dre, and he had never done it again, but he had never apologized for teasing him. It was the only way he could get back at the small boy for antagonizing him. Dre purposefully annoyed Carl and Carl purposefully teased him back.

"He okay?" Carol asked, as all the adults were looking over at them now, a slightly amused look on their faces. They were not unfamiliar with Carl and Andre's antics.

"He's fine?" Michonne reassured them.

"Carl what did you do to him?" Shane yelled from his lawn chair.

"I didn't do him nothing," Carl smiled in disbelief. He didn't think he and Andre fought as much as all the adults liked to make it seem.

"Calm down bud," Rick said ruffling the boy's curls as he tried to suppress his laugh. "It's not that bad."

"Yah huh, Cawl's Daddy," he said, causing both the adults to laugh again. Rick shook his head. They had told him Rick's name multiple times. He supposed it was better than just plan old generic 'Man'. The boy never allowed for a dull moment.

"Are you gonna put him down for a nap?" Carl asked. Michonne's mouth dropped open. Carl knew how Andre felt about naps. He took them because he needed them, but he didn't like the older kids knowing about it.

"Mommy, Cawl," Andre said sobbing quietly as he pointed at Carl, no longer able to form sentences due to his state of fatigue and distress.

"You are really on a roll today, huh?"she said running her fingers through Carl's hair before pushing his shoulder slightly.

Carl smiled at her before running back over to the lake to finish playing with Sophia and the Morales'.

"Dre, it's okay," Michonne said stroking the boy's curls. "Com'on you don't need to hang out with those lame big kids. Come and hang out with Mommy."

"Okay," Andre sobbed quietly.

She and Rick shared a smile before she walked off towards the path leading back to the campsite. "Can you bring those back for me?" She nodded at the clothes basket.

She went on ahead and Rick stooped to pick up the basket, before turning to follow her back to the camp. He was stopped by Lori.

"Hey, where've you been all day?" She asked, a curious smile on her face.

"Hey," he told her. "I've just been talking to Shane."

"Really?" And he didn't miss the change in her demeanor. He could tell something was weird between Lori and Shane, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. They seemed to be mostly avoiding each other. They were both fine with him, but they were just, he couldn't put his finger on it. He supposed it could be that Shane had told Lori he was dead. He could see how she would be upset with him because of it and how he would feel weird about it. He hoped that she would forgive him and he would forgive himself, because he could definitely see how Shane could have thought he was dead. Hell, he still hadn't figured out how he survived.

"What about?" She asked.

He paused a second,because he hadn't brought this up to her yet, at least not seriously. "About where to go when we leave here."

Here eyebrows shifted up. "We're leaving here?"

"It's not safe, Lori," he said immediately beginning to explain his argument. It seemed he didn't need to though.

She stared at him in thought before simply replying, "So where are we going?"

His eyes softened at the realization that he wasn't going to have to argue with her. She was trusting him.

"The CDC," he told her. He'd figure out the mechanics of convincing Shane later.

* * *

Michonne stood with her arms folded, sword on her back, and most of her weight shifted to her left leg, a curious look on her face as she looked up at Rick. She thought when he said he would convince Shane, his argument would have been a little more savvy than, "Shane, we can't stay here. It isn't safe. We have to leave."

Rick looked from Andrea to Shane, as they both stared at him with a blank, yet somewhat confused expression on their faces. He expected one of them to say something, he waited for them to say something, but they didn't. He knew he would have a resistant audience, but they were looking at him like he'd just suggested they run through the city with blow horns and dinner bells.

Okay, it didn't seem like they were budging. He looked between them once more before turning to the one person in their circle of four he knew was on his side. She only tilted her head slightly and lifted an eyebrow before nodding once. It wasn't what he was looking for. It said valiant effort, but it was the participation trophy of nice try.

So maybe he could have been a little more wordy with a little more detail. But this was Shane, his best friend. They followed each other's lead. If Shane could see how much he truly believed this, he'd be on board with the plan. Finally Andrea spoke.

"And go where?" she said in a voice that clearly said she expected him to not have an answer to that. Or at least not as good a one as he did have.

"The CDC," he said his confidence restored a little.

At this Shane threw his hands up in the air and turned before taking a few steps away from them as if he was frustrated. Michonne rolled her eyes at him, as Rick continued to try to relay his plan.

"I heard it on the radio before the signals went out. They're looking for a cure, and Shane you know the security they have around that place."

"But it's back towards the city Rick," Shane told him. He knew it was too dangerous to travel towards the city.

"We can go around," Rick suggested.

"That'd take hours," Andrea retorted.

"Well we can go the straighter route," he told them.

"And just walk into our deaths?" Shane said, growing unnecessarily angry. Michonne stood studying him. She had a feeling that his anger had more to do with Rick's wife than his plan.

"We can't get that close to the city Rick?" Andrea tried to reason with him. "Not the entire group, we barely made it out there alive and you want us to drag Carol and Ed's unstable ass along with us. And the kids? I just don't think that's a good idea."

"What difference does it make, if we take our chances by getting closer to the city? They're already on their way to us," Michonne supplied.

"What?" Andrea asked. But Michonne didn't reply as she was engaged in a stare off with Shane. "What do you mean they're getting closer to us?" Still no one responded to Andrea's question.

Rick looked down at the ground and passed a hand over his brow. He hadn't wanted to spring that piece of information on them just yet. But, it seems it had them a little more interested in what he had to say now.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Shane asked, finally looking away from Michonne.

Rick chanced a glance at her and she nodded towards Shane, as if saying, 'Tell him'. He did.

"The other night," he started of almost hesitantly, "when we were walking the woods before we went to bed, we saw one."

"You saw one? What? A walker?" Andrea asked, not wanting to believe what they were hearing. They hadn't seen a walker since they had settled on that spot.

"Yeah, about a half mile away from the campsite," he admitted.

"That's impossible, they've not gotten that close before," Andrea said searching both of their faces for more of an explanation.

"The city," Rick began giving his hypothesis on the subject, "it's dried up. Everyone who was there is already dead, or turned, or very well hidden. Their food source, it's running low. They're leaving the city."

"And you want to meet them halfway," Shane added.

"No," Rick told him. "I want to get to safe place before we find ourselves in a position where we're waking up with them in our backyard."

"How many of them were there?" Andrea asked.

"One," Michonne told her. "Only one. But more are sure to follow," she turned to Shane. "And soon."

"So the two of you just want us to go out on a whim and take our chances with this?" Shane reaffirmed. "Just put all of our lives in danger over some hunch."

Rick threw his hands up in the air, mimicking Shane's gesture just a few moments before as he turned his back to the group. He didn't think that his friend would be this stubborn. It was obvious they weren't safe where they were.

"Rick," Shane called, willing the man to face them again.

"We don't all have to go," Rick spat out, clearly frustrated. This made Michonne's head turn towards him again. She didn't know where he was going, but maybe he was finally actually putting effort into convincing his best friend as he said he would. Rick continued. "Some of us can go, check it out. If it pans out, we come back for the rest o'ya."

The four of them stared at each other. Andrea's eyes travelling to every member in the group, Rick and Shane staring each other down and Michonne staring at Shane wondering if he was entertaining to idea of sending Rick out to his death, so he can inherit his family again.

"Alright," Shane said before all but confirming her thoughts. "When are you leaving?"

"We can head out tomorrow," Rick suggested.

"Wait," Andrea chimed in. "We didn't get much supplies the last time we went into the city. What if it takes you longer than expected? What if we need something? We're already going to be down people."

They all stood contemplating the questions. Rick wanted to suggest that there was a possibility of them not coming back at all. And that the group would ultimately have to learn to survive as a smaller group if that were to happen, but she did have a pretty good point, if he was being optimistic about it.

"We can go on a run before we leave," he suggested. "Tomorrow. Me, Michonne, Glenn, and Daryl. We'll have to go further out, not the city. Too dangerous," he said aloud but seemingly talking to himself as the plan formed in his head. It should only take us a few hours at most. We come back and rest up, the next day. I take Morales, Daryl, and Glenn, we head out to the CDC."

Michonne furrowed her brow at him wondering how she came to be replaced by Morales for the CDC run. She'd take it up with him later. For now, it only mattered that they get everyone on board with their plan.

Andrea and Shane looked at each other, before he looked back at his best friend, "Alright."

* * *

A/N: Sorry about any major mistakes guys. I really just wanted to get this posted but they just called for my plane to start boarding. I'll come back and fix them later, but let me know what you think, leave reviews, and remember if anyone want's to beta, please PM me.

One of the most under appreciated scenes of TWD that showed early signs of savage Rick was season 2 when Rick and Shane were in that old school yard and they had the other guy with them and the walkers trapped Shane and Rick came back with the guy, and he had duck taped the guys neck to the seat so he couldn't escape. That was hilarious.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait between updates, but stuff kept coming up. Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. I really hope you guys like this chapter. I'm happy so many of you have liked the first two chapters and happy to see all the reviews, especially the longer one. I like that this take on the story makes peoples imaginations run wild lol. So keep them coming, all of them but especially the detailed ones. And I want to thank my Beta for helping me to review and edit. I'm well aware of the mistakes in the first two chapters, and I plan on going back to edit them when I get the chance. But here's chapter 3.**

* * *

"But I wanna come with you, Mommy," Andre whined as Michonne held him in her arms.

She was getting ready to go on the supply run with Rick, Glenn, and Daryl. They had gotten up that morning and eaten breakfast before preparing to head out. She kissed the boy on the forehead.

"I'm sorry baby, you can't," she told him. "Mommy's gotta go find us some food. You don't want to run out of those Teddy Grahams, do you?"

"But I don't wan' you to go," The child replied.

"Aww, I know Peanut," she said hugging him closer. She knew that Andre hated it when she left, and she hated leaving him even more. For one, she hated having to put the burden on someone else at the camp to keep him safe. She should have been able to trust his father with that responsibility, but truth was, she didn't. And that made her angry, but their group had to pull their weight if they were going to stay anywhere, not just with this group. Unfortunately, she was the only one capable of bearing that load.

"I don't understand why you have to go," Mike offered from the corner. He had been brooding ever since she had announced that morning at breakfast that she would be joining the team that would be going on the run.

She ignored him and instead focused her attention on her baby. "But, I'll bring you back a surprise," Michonne said trying to placate the child. "Do you want a surprise?" She poked the child's side gently, causing a small smile to come to his face. She continued until he started to giggle and replied with a shy, "Yes." He followed up with, "What are you going to bring me?"

Michonne laughed, "I can't tell you that silly," she said poking the boy more causing him to laugh and try to grab at her attacking hand. "It's a surprise."

She and Andre continued to laugh and play around on their cot as Mike watched from the cot across from her and Terry from his sleeping bag on the floor of the tent. "Or you could just stay here with him and not risk your life out there," Mike offered again.

"We are 'out there', Mike," she snapped at him, unable to quietly tolerate his comments anymore. "Or haven't you noticed that?"

"Well it's safer here than going digging around looking for trouble," he added.

She squinted her eyes at him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was like he was a different person. How could the man she had fallen in love with at some point turn into the exact opposite of what she thought him to be. And to think she thought that he had actually been tying during the last few days. He seemed to be trying to kick himself out of his funk. She had tried initially, but at some point it had become too much of a burden to bear, so she had focused on keeping them all alive. All the adults would have to be responsible for their own emotional states. The last couple of days he seemed to have been actually trying to contribute more to the group, where he could. It wasn't much, but all she had wanted was the effort. She knew it would take a while for him to climb out of the rut he was in, but now it seemed even that effort was a facade.

"He's right Miesh," Terry added. "Let them go. They don't need you."

"We have to pull our weight, somehow," she said sitting Andre on the bed and stuffing her jacket into her backpack. "And I don't see either of you volunteering to go."

"Michonne, don't go," Mike pleaded one last time as she scooped up Andre and prepared to take him to camper so Andrea and Amy could watch him until she got back.

She had only made two steps out of the tent before she saw Rick strutting towards her, a wide smile on his face. "Mornin'," he greeted. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and not let on to the inner turmoil in their smaller group.

"Good-," she was cut short as she felt someone grabbing hold of her arm. She turned around and immediately came face to face with Mike.

Rick slowed his approach before coming to a complete stop. He wasn't standing next to them, but he was close enough to hear and for them to know that he could hear them, even in their hushed tones. But he didn't move, instead opting to play invisible, and afraid that if he moved he would make the situation more tense.

"Where are you taking him?" Mike demanded.

"I told you," she told him before attempting to turn and walk away from him again.

Again, he stopped her by holding onto her arm. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Michonne," Mike started, "he's my son." Rick could hear the hurt and desperation in the man's voice. Michonne must have heard it too because she broke her cold stare and looked off to the side.

"I have to keep him safe," was her only reply.

"And you think I can't do that?" Mike asked still sounding hurt, but more offended now. "You think some stranger can do a better job at protecting him than me." Michonne didn't answer and Mike leaned in slightly, trying to re-initiate eye contact with her. "I'm his father."

"Then maybe you should start acting like it," she told him.

"I've been trying, Michonne," he pleaded, pleaded with her to notice his efforts, pleaded with her to forgive him for his shortcomings, pleaded with her to allow him the chance to be a father to his son once again, the chance to feel like a man again.

"You caught one rabbit," she told him, shooting him down quickly.

"Well shi…," Rick could see the man caught himself after realizing his son was staring straight at him, observing and probably committing to memory every word and minutia of mannerism. At least with everything that he hadn't been doing, he was still trying to be a good role model for his son. "That's something, Baby." He said addressing Michonne. Rick felt a slight pull of sadness at his heart. He had somewhat settled his initial infatuation with her in the last couple of days, probably because they had spent a lot of that time together getting to know each other while plotting to get their group into safer territory, but the problem was that the reality of her did not disappoint that initial infatuation. Hell, that infatuation paled in comparison to how captivating she actually was once getting to know her. She was the closest person to him amongst the strangers he had met and it made him a little jealous that there were people, other than her son of course, that were higher on her companionship list than him. It was similar to the way he felt when Shane got his first real girlfriend when they were fourteen years old. He had had "girlfriends" before, but this was the first girl that Shane had actually ditched Rick to go and spend time with. Yeah, that had been a rough summer for him. Thankfully they were only kids then and by August he had had his friend back.

"I'm trying," Mike said, holding his hands out in a pleading fashion. "That has to count for something." Michonne just stared at him, Andre on her hip. "Now, I'm going to keep trying no matter what, but you gotta work with me, Michonne. Just...let me spend time with my son. Let me take care of him, please."

Michonne still stared at him, and Rick found himself readying to grab her just in case she put the boy down and went for the katana on her back. The look she was giving the man was in no way friendly or sympathetic. Mike must have seen that too because he turned his attentions to his son.

"Dre, don't you want to stay with Daddy?" he smiled at the boy. Dre just looked at his mother before looking back at his father. He knew his father hadn't been acting like himself much, and that made him sad. The only thing his mother would tell him was that his father and Uncle Terry were sick. He was afraid at first but she later explained to him that they weren't sick like the stinky monsters, but in a different way. He was happy to see that his father was starting to act like his old self, but he wanted his mother's approval.

"We can have fun, like we used to do," Mike said poking the boy in the side, causing him to smile as he tried to hold in a laugh, causing a hint of a smile to come to Michonne's face. "So what do you say?" he stopped poking the boy. "You wanna stay with me?"

Andre immediately nodded his head and Mike reacted by reaching his arms out to the boy. Andre immediately fell into his arms, and surprisingly Michonne let him. Rick let out a sigh of relief. He thought he was about to witness a lover's quarrel, he'd wanted to exit the situation a while ago, but they both saw him standing there and he figured leaving would make it slightly more awkward.

"That's what I'm talking about," Mike said, holding up his hand for Andre to slap him five and responding with an enthusiastic, "My man," once he did.

Rick found himself smiling as well at the now giddy boy. The situation got tense again though as Michonne offered a firm, "Watch him. Keep him safe."

"I will," Mike replied with a more serious tone.

She then turned her attention to the boy, her demeanor more light hearted as she kissed him goodbye. She then turned to Rick. "Ready?"

"Yep," he replied, falling in step behind her as she passed him. He stayed quiet. He could tell the decision that she'd just made was weighing on her.

She looked back at the tent once, twice, and Rick stopped, his hand twitching at the extra gun in his belt. A thought entering his mind.

"Hold on," he said finally before they had gotten too far away from the tent. She stopped and turned around to see him walk back over to where Mike stood with Andre. She watched still as he took the gun from his holster and handed it to the man.

"Here," Rick said as he offered the gun to the man.

Mike only looked at Rick for a while before looking down at the gun in his hand, then back up at him. "I don't…," he tried to say but the blue eyed man cut him off.

"Just in case," Rick told him. "I know you don't plan on using it but, take it. Just in case," he reiterated. Mike still hesitated. "You promised her you'd keep him safe, I'm just trying to help you keep that promise." Mike hesitated still but Rick still held his hand out, offering him the weapon. If Mike was going to work his way back into being her go to person, Rick wanted him to at least be worthy of that and able to fulfill that role competently for her sake as well as Andre's. Mike seemed like a good guy, but he definitely need to step up, for his family's sake if not for his own.

Finally Mike took the gun from Rick. "Thanks," he uttered eyeing the man. Rick wasn't sure if it was sincere or sarcastic but he nodded still in response.

He then turned to Andre, smiled and touched his head. "Have fun with your Dad, Buddy. I'll make sure your Mom gets back in time to tuck you in. See you later," Rick said.

"Bye Cawl's Daddy," Andre waved causing all three adults to laugh.

"You're killing me kid," Rick said as he shook his head and began to walk back towards the boy's mother. "Twenty five years, I didn't even have a son, was my own person, and within a matter of days, you've managed to reduce me to nothing more than Carl's Dad."

Michonne laughed, as she blew a kiss at Andre before she and Rick turned to walk towards the front of the campsite where Daryl and Glenn were waiting on them. "I'd say that's a pretty amazing title, if you had to pick one," she told him. He agreed.

* * *

"We get all that we can outta here, then we head back across the street to the weaponry, then we head back to camp," Rick informed his group as they entered the small clothing store.

They had already hit up the local grocery store and had gotten a fair amount of food. They'd decided to find some clothes for the group as well, as the nights were starting to become unpredictable. It was by no means approaching winter time, the days were still sweltering and the nights were usually still pretty humid as well, but they'd figured they'd better be safe than sorry since they were approaching the end of summer and they had gotten an unusually cool night. So they'd pick up a few long sleeved clothes and pants to tide the group over, just in case their numbers became permanently cut down.

Daryl and Glenn nodded as Michonne continued to travel deeper into the store, seemingly looking for something more specific.

"We should check those cars we passed on the way in as well," Glenn suggested. "A few of them still look like they run."

"That's if they've got gas," Daryl reminded them.

"We'll check them on the way out, but if it's too much trouble, we leave'em," Rick responded slightly distracted as his eyes followed Michonne until she disappeared behind a clothes rack. She had been a little off all day. She wasn't her usual self, and it seemed like the further and the longer they were away from camp she got quieter. He figured it was because she was worried about Andre.

He followed her around the clothes racks and found that she had made her way into the little boy's section, unsurprisingly. He watched her as she grabbed a few shirts and pants and stuffed them in the back pack. She didn't acknowledge his presence, other than the annoyed sigh that left her. He figured he'd speak up and say something.

"Aren't those a little too big for Andre," he said in a light hearted tone. "It almost looks like Carl could wear those." He smiled as he walked over to her.

She didn't look at him but continued to search through the racks.

"Yeah, well, just because the world is rotting away, doesn't mean he's going to stop growing. I figure this'll last for a while, throughout this winter," she replied, not taking to the easiness that he was trying to bring to the exchange.

He studied her a little while longer. He could tell that she was more stressed than she normally was. "You okay?"

She paused for a split second and turned to look at him, before turning away again and stuffing a few more items in the now full back pack. "I'm fine," she told him.

He stared at her a little longer, knowing that she wasn't but trying to remember that they had only met each other a few weeks ago. He didn't want to overstep his boundary. He nodded before turning away, but she called to him, "Hey."

He turned back to face her. "Why'd you pick Morales for the CDC run and not me?"

He smirked at her. "You really wanna be that far away from Andre for that long?"

He saw her demeanor shift, but she didn't answer. He could tell this was hard on her. For all intents and purposes, she was a single parent with a young child in the middle of all of this, and it was clear that she trusted very few people with the safety of her child. Plus having to haul around the responsibility for Mike and Terry, it had to have been hard on her.

She nodded and then turned to the rack next to the one she had just taken clothes from. "Give me your bag," she said. He handed her the one that he had been holding. She proceeded to open it, as well as an extra one she had and filled it with slightly bigger clothes from the boys' and the girls' racks. He figured it was for his son and the other kids at the camp.

He tilted his head as he looked at her, wondering how she could still think of others with all that she had weighing on her. She really was remarkable. She filled the bags up and handed his back to him. He hesitated before he took it from her. "Look, Michonne," he started, not really knowing how to continue, "I know you kinda have a lot going on, with your group," he stuttered.

She smiled and patted his shoulder, "I can handle it Grimes."

He placed his hand on top of hers before she could remove it as she tried to walk past him. "But if you ever feel like you can't," he said looking her in the eyes, "I'm here." He nodded, "We all are."

She stared at him and a small smile played at her lips, before she could respond Glenn's voice rang throughout the store. "Hey you guys, they have speedos. I could use these for the lake."

They both burst into laughter as they heard Daryl and Glenn start bickering over the younger man's comment. "Unfortunately," Michonne said in reply to Rick's comment, causing him to laugh harder.

* * *

Andrea sat staring at the flames. It had been a long day, but every day was a long day she had decided. When there was no electricity for air condition in the heat, all the days were long, and the nights were even longer. She, along with most people at the camp, could never sleep more than a few hours at a time. She remembered a time when she would be begging for the sun to hold off it's ascent into the sky so she could grab another hour of sleep, but now she woke at least four times a night, wishing it was daylight already so she wouldn't have to continue to pretend to want the miserable sleep she was getting. Between the stickiness of the heat and the fear of walkers creeping up on their camp, sleep just wasn't what it used to be.

"Sweetie, they're fine," Lori's voice broke her from the trance the flames had put her under. She looked up to see the woman running her hands through her son's dark brown locks. "You know how your daddy is," she continued to reassure him. "Always finding something else to do while he's already doing something."

It was dark now and the group had yet to get back. She'd figured they would be back right around sunset, but that was a couple of hours ago. She wasn't going to panic just yet, because she knew her friends were capable of taking care of themselves, but she was starting to worry a little.

The boy looked at the flames for a moment before replying, "Yeah, you're probably right. Him and Michonne could probably kill all the walkers in Georgia."

"And you know they would do anything to get back to you and Andre," Dale added, for emphasis, trying to help comfort the child.

Carl smiled at Dale, and Lori smiled at him. Andrea laughed to herself as she looked over to where the tents were. Carl was definitely captivated by her best friend. She had overheard him going on to the other kids about Michonne after he had seen her take down a walker for the first time. He had likened her to a 'real life superhero'. She sighed, beginning to worry again. Andre was already asleep. His father had taken him to the tent about an hour ago, their small group deciding to turn in early. She prayed Michonne would come back soon, another hour or so and she would really start to panic. And she feared what would happen to the small boy sleeping in her tent if he was left under the care of his father.

"We're out of toilet paper," she heard her sister yell from behind her, and turned just in time to see a walker grab a hold of her arm, she screamed as he bit into it. Her vision became tunneled on her little sister, and within a few seconds, their peaceful camp was turned into chaos.

* * *

Andre rolled over and blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a gloomy light coming from the corner of their tent and he could hear some people's voices outside of the tent. He looked where he saw the light coming from and saw his dad and Uncle Terry sitting around a little candle lit lamp. The area they were sitting in looked hazy, smoky almost. He let his little head fall back to the pillow and snuggled into the covers, hiding himself in them as they smelled of his mother. He was about to doze off again when he heard some scratching at the entrance of the tent.

He heard one of the men say something then footsteps coming near him to open the tent up for their visitor. The next thing he heard was screaming and his little eyes popped open to immediately see one of the dead corpses lunge at his father, taking him down to the ground. He froze, fear gripping his little body. He watched still as two more of the things ambled inside of the tent going for his Uncle Terry who had now begun screaming as well. Tears sprang to his little eyes as his mother's voice started to sound off in his head. "It's like keep away, Baby. Freeze tag," she said speaking of games but her tone implied nothing playful. "Whatever you do don't let them touch you, Dre. If they come for you, you always try to hide somewhere they can't get you or get away if you can." She had then proceeded to tell him all the places where they couldn't get him. Not wanting to waste another second and finally being able to move again with his mother's voice encouraging him, he jumped off of the cot and ran out of the now open tent. Thankfully the walkers were occupied with the two larger bodies they were now feasting on.

He looked around when he got out of the tent and saw that there were also some of the dead things in Sophia's mommy and daddy's tent. He then heard a scream and turned towards where he last remembered the other adults being, but he was cut off as a walker stepped in his path. He quickly made a U turn and headed for the nearest tent he could find. He slipped inside the slightly open tent and ran to the back as he watched the walkers claw at the opening. He was trapped.

* * *

"Can't believe we had to drive all the way around," Glenn grumbled as they walked the last half mile towards the camp, hauling as much of their things as they could with them. "Then we ran out of gas."

They had run into, or almost ran into some trouble on the way back. They had left the town they had been scavenging after another group had entered the scene. They didn't look too friendly and they had decided to sneak out another way. They couldn't make it back to the car they had come in but thankfully they had found another on the other side of town. They had then been diverted the long way back to their camp by either deserted cars, walkers, or other debris blocking the road. They had then run out of gas a few miles away from the camp and opted to hide the car in some trees. They took everything they had found on the run and headed back to camp on foot. They would get gas and go back for the car in the morning.

"Aww," Michonne said pinching his cheek. "Are you grumpy, Glenn?" she teased with a laugh. "Is it past your bedtime?" Daryl smirked and Rick laughed, while Glenn just pouted. "It's okay, we're almost back. And I'll tuck you in and read you a bedtime story. How does that sound?"

He tilted his head to the side, "Great actually."

"Yeah, can I get in on that?" Daryl agreed.

"Oh, to be a kid again," Rick finished off.

"Yeah," she agreed with them.

They all stopped short as they heard a scream coming from the direction in which they were walking. They listened, it was followed by more screams and gunfire. They all took off running as fast as they could in that direction.

"Lori, get him down!" Rick heard Shane yell as they broke through the last of the trees hiding their campsite. He saw Lori quickly get to the ground, taking Carl down with her.

It was chaos. Michonne and Daryl both dropped their bags. She reached behind her unsheathing her Katana and started going to work as did Daryl with his crossbow. He and Glenn did the same, using the guns they had gotten from the weaponry.

Suddenly Michonne froze and her head whipped in the direction of the tents. He shot a walker making its way towards her. He was about to call out to her but then he heard it. A small voice crying out for help. She ran in that direction.

"Michonne," he tried to call after her, but he doubt she even heard him, and if she did he knew it would have done nothing to stop her. He took another one down and looked in the direction that she had just disappeared. He then looked to Carl and Lori who were crouched at Shane's feet.

"Go, go help her," Daryl yelled at him, making the decision for him.

"Yeah," Glenn said. "We got this." He watched as the younger man took down three more walkers with the rifle, before heading off to find Michonne. He knew his family was safe. The dead would have to go through his best friend to get to them and he trusted his best friend with his life as well as his family's.

* * *

She ran to her tent and pulled the flap open and gasped at the site she saw. Mike sat on the ground, bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound and Terry lay next to him, clearly already dead, his guts spilling from his body. There were three walkers with head wounds sprawled out around the tent and she saw the gun in Mike's hand. She smelled the weed, she saw the lamp, and the leftover marijuana but she didn't see Andre.

"Where's Andre?" she said shakily, causing Mike to open his eyes and look at her.

"Hey, Miesh," he said clearly happy to see her. She did not return the sentiment.

"Where's my baby, Mike?" she asked once again, firmer, anger and fear gripping her.

The small smile he had on his face slowly disappeared. He shook his head, "I'm sorry Miesh."

She felt the tears spring to her eyes, her vision becoming blurry. "Mike?" she said shakily, her breathing becoming deeper as she didn't know if she was going to puke or pass out.

"I don't know," he finally replied.

She quickly left the tent and began looking around for any signs of her son in the darkness. Then she saw it, well first she heard it. The familiar growling of hungry walkers. She saw them, clawing at one of the tent openings and watched as the zipper slowly began to give to allow them inside. Then she heard the sobbing, and another cry for help. She noticed the little hand prints pushing at the backside of the tent, then the zipper gave before she could take a step, then she couldn't move as she felt her skin grow cold and clammy in less than a second, feeling as if all her blood had pooled at her feet. Her throat started to close and she was sure her heart had slowed to a point where it couldn't sustain life anymore. The first thought that registered was to run to him, but she knew no matter what she did, she couldn't get to him fast enough. She was on the other side of the tent circle and the walkers were already starting to get into the tent. She took a step towards him, blade drawn but before she could take a second she saw the shadow of another body emerge from the trees. She watched stiffly as he placed his hands where the little hand prints were making their impressions in the tent, gauging where the boy was. She hadn't noticed the knife in his hand until he raised it, stabbing it into the back side of the tent, making a hole. He then reached inside, quickly finding what he was looking for and pulled his arm back, birthing her three year old from the tent of walkers. He stumbled backwards as a walker arm and head quickly emerged through the hole, and lost his footing from the force he had used to pull the boy from the tent. Her baby landed on top of him and Rick raised his gun to shoot the walker still trying to come after them in the head. Three more ripped through the tent and she knew that this was her chance.

She made quick work of two of the walkers as Rick shot the third in the head from his position on the ground, causing him to fall on top of the one that was already on top of him and Andre. He could feel Andre's little hands clinging to his shirt and hear him grunting, seemingly trying to cry but not being able to as he was currently being crushed between himself and the weight of the two corpses on top of them. He tried to push them off with the hand that held the gun, the one that wasn't trapped between the boy and the bodies. Suddenly it became a little easier as he looked up to see Michonne had rolled the top walker off of them, making it easier for him to push the last one off.

He heard Andre gasp and then begin to cry. He was about to get up but felt a weight being added on top of him again and he realized he was being straddled and the boy being pulled from his arms. He allowed him to go only after he realized that it was the boy's mother that had descended on them.

"He okay?" He asked, breathless as he pushed himself up into a sitting position trying to see if the boy had any wounds, but he couldn't with the lack of light and the fact that Michonne had him encased in her arms as she sobbed softly.

He was about to remind her that they still had to fight, but before he could say anything, he saw T-dog walking over to them.

"Yall good?" the man asked in his usual relaxed manner.

"Yeah," Rick then realized that the ruckus at the fireside had died down. He could hear Shane's voice asking where the hell had the walkers come from. Rick nodded towards the camp.

"Yeah, we got'em," T-dog confirmed.

Suddenly he felt his upper body being tackled as he felt the familiar weight of the small boy being pressed back into him. "Thank you," Michonne sobbed quietly into his neck. He nodded against her shoulder and was about to ask her if she could allow him up so he could go check on his family, but before he could he heard Carl's voice.

"Dad!" he heard. He felt Michonne unwrapping him and pulling Andre away only for him to be side tackled with his son's embrace. He felt Michonne's weight lifting off of him as he wrapped his arms around his boy and breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm okay, son," he reassured him as he kissed the top of the boy's head.

Satisfied with his answer, his son's attention turned to the sobbing toddler and his mother.

"Is he okay?" he asked as he looked up at Michonne and T-dog. T-dog was shining his flashlight on the boy as Michonne checked him over for bites and scratches. He let out another breath when they confirmed that they didn't see any. He laid back down on the ground looking up at the night sky and thanking the stars, but perhaps he had been too hasty as he registered the crying coming from back at the campsite. They heard someone coming their way and saw Lori emerge from the bushes. She rushed over to them and dropped to her knees, embracing her husband and her son, confirming that they both were okay.

From his position on the ground he watched as Michonne slowly wandered back over to her tent, still holding a crying Andre close to her. She stood at the opening, just looking inside. He blinked hard, before looking up at T-dog. "How bad is it?"

The man only replied with a look, and that answered his question.

"Com'on sweetie, let's go check on Sophia and her mom," Lori told Carl, leading him back to the campsite. She had seen Ed's dead body and Sophia and Carol sobbing at their tent on her way to find her son.

T-dog reached out a hand and Rick took it, allowing the man to help him up. "It's a good thing yall came back when you did," he said quietly before walking back toward the fireside.

Rick watched him, almost not wanting to go back as he still heard the sobs coming from that direction. He hated to see how much of their people had perished in the ambush.

"No baby, don't look," he heard Michonne say calling his attention back over to her.

She pressed Andre's head into her shoulder. The boy's sobs had slowed some and were now softer. He walked over to her and stood next to her. His mouth fell open as he peered inside of the tent. Terry was dead, and Mike was dying.

"You found him," Mike sputtered after opening his eyes and realizing that the woman he loved was back, now holding their son.

She didn't respond, just stared with hatred in her eyes. "Michonne, baby I'm sorry," Mike tried. She only turned and walked away from him.

"Michonne?" Rick called after her. She didn't respond. "Where are you going?" No response. "We have to put him down," he tried again.

"Let him turn," she said as she walked back towards the fire side.

He was quiet. He didn't know how to respond to that. He turned back to look into the tent and saw that Mike was watching her walk away as well, and from the new tears springing to his eyes, he assumed he had heard her. While Mike got control of his emotions, Rick surveyed the tent and saw the drug paraphernalia. He then saw the hole in Terry's head and the gun in Mike's hand. The man sniffed before turning to Rick. He just looked at him for a moment before slowly lifting his hand, extending the gun to him.

Rick understood what he was asking him to do. And as angry as he was with Mike right now for being so irresponsible, they had all made a commitment to each other to kill each other before they would let them turn.

He took the gun and turned it over in his hand. He then looked back at Mike who looked him in the eyes for a moment. He could see all the hurt, shame, and regret in the man's eyes before he looked away. He pointed the gun at the man's head, but turned his eyes towards the front of the tent. He hesitated, obviously too long as he felt Mike grab his hand and press the muzzle of the gun up to his head. Rick closed his eyes, before pulling the trigger.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Don't forget to review guys!**

 **So I sat down and watched a few episodes from season 5 with my cousins this weekend at our family get away, and it was the Them episode where Judith is crying in the barn and all I hear is my mom saying from the kitchen, "Who is that crying baby? I bet that's Judy, isn't it?" I couldn't help but to laugh and feel proud, I've officially turned my mom into a deadhead, calling the characters by nick names and everything. Also WHAWGO...I still have to announce to the room that I'm not crying when I watch that episode.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Again thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad the suspense came through in the writing. Andre's 3 in this story. I hope this chapter comes across the way I want it to. So here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

* * *

Rick climbed out of the truck he had shared with his son and wife on their way into the city and surveyed the area around them. The CDC was a little bit further out from the central city so thankfully there were no herds of walkers like he had wandered upon when he first tried to enter the city, but he could tell that there had been at some point. Now all of the bodies lay on the ground, some of them with visible head wounds, some of them without. He hoped like hell they'd all stay down.

Their numbers were far fewer now. They had lost a lot of people back at the camp, the Morales' had gone off on their own, and they had left Jim on side of the road. They were dwindling, and unfortunately if this didn't work, they would be down by even more people if not completely wiped out by the next sunrise.

"You better hope this shit works," Shane said as if reading his mind, as he fell in stride alongside him. Rick only glared at the man before turning his head and continuing on his path towards the other cars to gather everyone else.

He didn't know what it was, but he definitely liked Shane a lot more before the world went to shit. Now he was having a hard time remembering why he even entertained the man's company at all. And he had more than an inkling now that whatever it was wasn't as innocent as he initially thought it to be, with him or Lori.

Rick stopped and allowed Shane to continue past him as T-Dogg walked up to him, obstructing his path. The man just looked at him with a concerned look on his face.

Rick turned to the truck the man had driven, the two women and little boy sitting inside. Andrea was staring straight out of the window, a blank, distant look on her face. Michonne just continued to stare down onto the face of the sleeping toddler in her arms, her face contorted into a look of anguish.

"They okay?" he asked.

T responded by throwing his hands up in the air before letting them fall back to his sides. "Neither of them said much on the way up," he started. "I did get a few one word answers from Andrea, but Michonne hasn't said anything. I hit on her the entire way up here and she didn't even tell me to shut up once."

A smile came to Rick's face. "Maybe if you try not hitting on her less than twenty four hours after her boyfriend died." He'd thought that much would be obvious.

"I was trying to get her to laugh," T told him. "That always seems to get her to laugh...and not in a flattering way either." The man finished as he shook his head, seemingly remembering all of his past and failed attempts.

This caused Rick to laugh slightly as he patted the man on the shoulder. They both walked over to the truck as neither of the women seemed to make an attempt at exiting. T opened the passenger door.

"Com'on y'all," he told them gesturing for them to step out. "We're here."

Andrea made eye contact with him but didn't attempt to move. T reached out his hand offering to help her out of the truck. She looked at his hand then back at him, before looking past him.

"It looks deserted," she told him. It was clear that she was ready to give up; that the only thing keeping her going was the group around her ushering her to where she needed to be. They basically had to put her in the truck; otherwise she probably would've stayed at the campground sitting over Amy's grave. "We're all screwed."

"No." T told her as if trying to encourage her, "no we're not. We haven't even tried yet. Now com'on," he said grabbing her hand. She allowed him to pull her out of the truck, her body leaning into his as they walked towards where the rest of the group was gathering before making their approach on the building.

Rick stood still at the car door with a greeting smile, waiting for Michonne to move, now that she was free to exit. She didn't. She just continued staring down at the child in her arms. He sighed, and the smile fell from his face as he stepped around the car door so that he was closer to her. She had been quiet since the attack on their camp, sitting by Andrea's side as she wept over Amy, only speaking really to soothe her son's cries when his nightmares woke him. The boy had been quiet as well. There was no silly laughing, rapid fire questions, the boy wouldn't even talk to Carl. He just allowed his mother to hold him the entire time, not even attempting to join in with the older kids while they were playing.

"Michonne," he called softly to her. She didn't answer. She didn't even seem to hear him. "Michonne," he called again, a little louder, but still no response. "'Chonne," he said reaching a hand out towards her, softly touching her elbow.

He watched as she seemed to tense up slightly before relaxing a little bit, the crease in her brow flattening out. She seemed to get her grounding back in reality before looking up at him, seemingly confused as to why he was there. He could see the pain in her eyes, the fear, sadness, the anger...the unsureness. This was a different side of her. Some of her confidence was gone, he could tell. She was scared, more scared than she had ever been since he'd met her. He didn't like it. It disturbed something deep inside of him and he felt his chest tighten slightly, his breathing slightly restricted.

"We're here," he told her, rubbing his thumb gently along her upper arm, a comforting gesture. "We made it."

Her brow furrowed slightly again and she looked past him, at the large building. She looked back to him as if looking for confirmation. "We made it," he reiterated.

She took a few more seconds before she attempted to move from the car, slightly hindered by the boy on her lap. Rick reached into the car to take him, but pulled back when she jumped and wrapped her arms around the child. They shared a look. She seemed almost afraid to let the child out of her grip.

"I can take him if…," Rick tried but was cut off by a stiff, "I've got him."

He nodded then stepped back allowing her to scoot to the edge of the seat and step out of the truck. He watched her walk over to the rest of the group and followed her as they waited for the last couple of remaining members to join them before approaching the building.

Michonne allowed a small smile to come to her face as she watched the boy a few chairs over from her screw up his face as the red liquid graced his palet. The rest of the adults laughed, and continued on in their conversation. She wanted to take part in their conversations, the merriment of having found a new, stable, and definitely safer environment. This was even better than she and Rick could have dreamed after they made the decision to try to convince the group to leave the camp ground. She really wanted to take part in the celebration, but every time she felt some form of happiness breaking through, she became consumed with a slew of other feelings. Hurt, anger, sadness, guilt, fear. She was sad because she had lost Mike and Terry; they were the only two adults that she knew from before. And she had loved Mike, he had been a good man before, but after, he had done nothing but let her down and hurt her. He had almost hurt her in a way she feared that she could have never come back from. And that made her angry for loving him in the first place. Angry for loving someone who could be so weak and selfish. She felt like she had been tricked. She had loved this man enough at some point to allow her body to bend and shift itself to make room to bare his son and he had almost let that very child, the one thing she loved the most in the world be taken from her in a horrible fashion. She hated him. And that combined with the fact that she wasn't the one to save Andre, that he would have been dead if it weren't for Rick... She knew Mike wasn't solely to blame for his weakness. No one could predict how they would change in such a situation, but he was responsible for not protecting their son in the first place. But how could she be upset with him when she had failed at it as well.

She had run the situation over a thousand times in her mind. She should never have left her baby with his father, she knew in her gut that it was the wrong decision, but she had ignored her instinct. Never would she do that again. Then when she had gone looking for him, she hadn't heard him when she entered that area of the campground. He had obviously paused his crying, only to start again after the walkers made it into the tent with him, by which time, she was too far away to get to him in time. Thank God or whoever for Rick. Maybe if she would have stopped and assessed the situation, she wouldn't have had to count on him to save her child. Now all she had was herself to count on to protect him, and she wasn't feeling very confident in her skills at the moment.

Rick smiled across the table at his new found friends, happy that his and Michonne's plan to get them to safety had led to this and not their demise. He'd been stealing glances at the woman sitting on his right for the last hour or so as they all ate. Well everyone else ate while she picked at the food. Andre was sitting on her lap and he noticed the child seemed slightly more relaxed as he devoured the fruits and fish that had been placed in front of him. He had even laughed at some of the funny faces Carl had made at him from across the table.

"You're giving Carl a run for his money, picking at your vegetables like that," he said nudging her softly with his arm. This caused her to break the stare off with the piece of broccoli she'd been pushing around on her plate.

She turned to look at him, taking a few seconds to register what he'd said. "I'm not hungry." She said her facial expression still contemplative.

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? Because I'm willing to bet you haven't had a decent meal in the past two and a half months, at least."

She squinted at him, before allowing a smile to come to her face. "What is this, Grimes? Are you my father now?"

He laughed. "No, just a concerned friend," he told her.

Before she could reply, Lori wrapped her arms around her husband and leaned into him as she leaned forward to see past him and look at Michonne. "You need to eat something sweetie," she said with a hint of concern in her voice.

This confused her a little bit. Lori had never been one to show interest in her well being. The woman only spoke to her if she needed to or if they were in a group setting, just to keep it cordial. She had been welcoming when they first came to the camp but became standoffish shortly after. She had wondered why until Andrea informed that it was because she dabbled too much with the 'men folk' by going on runs with them. To which she had just shrugged her shoulders and continued on about her business as usual.

Before she could reply, she heard Carl calling out to Andre as he stepped next to her. "Com'on Andre, let's go play," he said smiling down at the smaller boy on her lap. The toddler made to move but his mother stopped him by holding on to him.

Rick caught the hesitation in her actions. "They're just going down the hall to the family lounge" he told her. "They'll be fine."

She just stared at him. "I'll look after him," Carl promised as he looked up at her. He had known that it had been rough on Michonne and Andrea after the attack. Andre had shut down immediately after as well, him and Sophia. He felt bad that there wasn't really much of anything he could do. He wanted to help his friends feel better. So he was going to go with Sophia and Andre to the playroom to see if he could brighten their moods. And he would promise to keep the little boy safe to make his mother feel better, although he thought they were pretty safe where they were.

Michonne smiled at Carl as she tapped the brim of his hat with her finger before allowing Andre to crawl out of her lap and run out of the room and down the hall with the two older kids. She looked after both of them.

"They're fine," Rick reassured her again.

She nodded, and did her best to try to start grounding herself in her reality and stop drowning in her thoughts.

"Well do you wanna go visit Andrea for a little bit," Michonne asked as she walked around the bedroom that had been provided to them with the three year old on her hip.

"No," the boy whined, rubbing his eyes, clearly getting sleepy again.

"What about Ms. Carol and Sophia?" she tried to persuade him. She was trying to get him to detach from herself long enough for her to take a shower. She needed a shower. She craved a long hot shower, but she'd settle for a short one given her circumstances.

"No," he said throwing his arms around her neck and burying his face in her shoulder,

"What about Carl?" she said in a last ditch effort.

"I wan' stay with you," was the boy's final offer.

She sighed as she rocked from side to side hoping that the toddler would fall asleep so she could go with her last plan which was waiting until he fell asleep so she could hop in and take a quick shower. But she didn't want to do that because she didn't want him to wake up, not see her, and freak out. She kissed the boy's forehead. She hoped this place lasted, because it would be hell trying to take care of her son alone out there in the world the way it was now. Although if she was honest with herself, she'd been doing exactly that for the last month and a half or so.

She heard a swift knock on her door and stopped swaying as Andre raised his head from her shoulder to look towards the door as well. She walked over and opened the door to find T-dog standing there smiling at her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey, what's up?" she responded, thinking that something was wrong for him to be knocking on her door at this hour. It wasn't really late, but everyone had been tired upon arrival at the CDC, their excitement at finding a safe place being the only thing keeping them going, but eventually their weariness had caught up with them. She'd thought everyone was turned in by now.

"Oh, nothing, just stopping by," he said leaning on the door frame and putting his hand on his hip. She mentally rolled her eyes, before allowing a small smile to come to her face. She found T-dog absolutely hilarious when he was hitting on her, and she could tell that that's what was about to happen. She thought he was a nice guy, clearly more useful than Mike in this new world, but she simply was just not interested in him as anything more than a good friend. And that's the way she saw him. She would say as a brother, but as much as he hit on her, he never allowed her to get fully settled into that mindset, which was a testament to his persistence and ability to stay out of the brother-zone. But she still saw him as the slightly older guy from down the street that she had grown up and been friends with who decided to start hitting on her after high school for some odd reason. "Checking on you guys, making sure everything is okay."

"We're fine T," she told him, as she shook her head at him. "Just getting ready to get to bed."

"Cool, cool, cool. Well you know, if you need anything, I'm just…," she cut him off before he could finish.

"Actually, if you could stay in her and keep an eye on Dre, while I take a shower…," she trailed off and his eyes trailed down her body at the mention of shower. She sucked her teeth. "T," she stated firmly, making his mind stop wandering.

"Yeah, my bad," he said breaking away from his wandering thoughts. He had come here to be of service, may be get an in, but not be the creepy guy that was ogling her not forty-eight hours after members of her family had died. "Sure, I can keep an eye on him. No problem," he said as she stepped back into the room, allowing him to enter.

"Thanks," she said adjusting Andre to hand him over. "I'll only be a minute."

"No worries do your thing," he said reaching for the child, who only leaned further back into his mother and away from the bald man. "Com'on lil' man." He tried to coax the child.

Michonne tried to pry the boy away from her which caused him to start to cry. "Dre, I'll only be a minute," she tried to explain to him as she placed him in T's arms and began backing away. The boy continued to cry. "Mommy'll be right in the bathroom, Dre, I'm not going far." Still he cried as she grabbed some of the towels and toiletries the she had gotten from the laundry room earlier.

She gave T a sympathetic look; sorry that she had roped him into this. "Don't worry," he told her. "I got him." That was just as Andre's little hand shot up as he tried to wiggle his way out of T's arms, catching the man somewhere between the nose and the eye. "Ahh!" T said as he looked down at the boy. Andre stopped for a second realizing what he had done, but finding humor in the look on the man's face, he laughed a little through his tears. "Oh so you think that's funny?" T said in a playfully serious tone. Andre laughed again and T began tickling him.

Michonne smiled as she slipped silently into the bathroom, hoping that she could prolong her bath since the boy was currently occupied. She let out a sigh of relief at finally being alone and safe for the first time that she could remember since all of this started. She began peeling the clothes off of her, not at all pleased with the fact that she had had them on for over forty-eight hours. Back before this, she lived for hygiene. The first thing she would do upon coming out of the Georgia heat and humidity was jump in a shower to wash the day away. And brushing her teeth. She was one of those people who brought toothbrushes in bulk, even when it was just her. The only thing she enjoyed more was scrubbing her child clean. Little kids got dirty, little boys she suspected more than little girls, and it disturbed her to no end to see a dirty child especially her child. She didn't really dislike it because she had appreciated the fact that he was just being a kid and having fun, the evidence being the dirt, sweat, and other stains all over his clothes and skin. She just always found a great pleasure in taking him home after a day out and scrubbing him clean again. And she had already taken care of that for the night, so now it was her turn. She turned on the stream of water allowing it to warm. She waited until she started to see the steam rise from it before she stepped under it. A smile came to her face as the hot water hit her skin, instantly starting to relax her tense muscles and wash away the dirt and other tensions from the last few days.

Rick stepped out of his and Lori's room closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway, doing one last check on the people that he had brought with him. He opened the door to the room that Carl and Sophia shared and saw that they were both knocked out in each of their twin beds. He smiled to himself as he watched his son kick the last remaining bit of cover off of him as he slept. He closed the door. He looked across the hall and saw that Carol's door was closed, he figured she was asleep. He walked a little further and stopped at Shane's door. He stood there for a moment deciding if he should knock or not. Whatever this was between Shane, Lori, and he would have to be hashed out sooner or later. He raised his hand to knock, but thought better of it after remembering that they had both been drinking, Shane more than him. He rounded the corner and saw Dale coming out of Andrea's room, closing the door behind him. The older man just looked at him and shook his head.

"She okay?" he asked, stopping in front of the white haired man.

"No," he replied honestly, "but she will be. Jaqui's in there with her now. I was just going to go grab her some water."

Rick nodded and Dale continued on his way to the kitchen that they shared on their quarters. He looked down the hall at T-dog's door and saw that it was open. He thought nothing of it, until he heard the whimpers coming from the slightly opened door across the hall from him. The whimpers soon ceased, but were followed by a shaky but familiar, "Nooo," and Rick couldn't help but to smile to himself. He heard the soft sobbing accompanied by some pleading as he got closer to the door. He expected to hear Michonne's voice but it sounded more like T-dog. He paused a second, his face slipping into a state of confusion before he continued and stepped in front of the door. He listened.

"Com'on man, stop crying," T pleaded with the child. "You're going to make me look bad in front of your mom."

He was confused for a second but realized that he could faintly hear the shower running from his position at the doorway. His suspicion that Michonne was not in the room was confirmed by Andre's sad cry of, "I want Mommy."

"I know man, me too," was the adult's response. "That's why I'm trying to tell you to stop crying."

Rick couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. T-dog heard him and turned around to find the blue eyed man staring, looking at him laughing. "Oh, so it's funny?" He said clearly not amused by Rick's amusement.

"I'm sorry," he continued to laugh, "but yes. It is funny. You can't reason with the kid like that man. He doesn't care about your agenda. At least offer to buy him some candy."

"Look man I never had any kids," he admitted from his position kneeling at the bedside so he could be eye to eye with the boy. "I don't know what to do with them."

"Obviously," Rick responded as his laughter died down.

Suddenly Andre was on the move. Both men watched, T with a frown and Rick with a lingering smile as the toddler hastily lowered himself from the bed to the floor and immediately began running towards the door. At first Rick thought he was going to try to escape, but was surprised to see the boy raising his arms as he got closer to him. Without thinking, he bent at the waist and scooped him up.

"Hey, Dre," Rick said giving the toddler his full attention now. "What's the matter? You missing your mom?"

The toddler's big brown eyes began to fill with tears again as he nodded his head yes. He then buried his face into the man's shoulder. "It's okay bud, she'll be out in a minute," he tried to comfort the child as he began to pace back and forth with him.

T watched still from his position on the floor. Rick couldn't help but smile again when he heard the man exclaim, "Man this is some bullshi- crap," he got up from the floor. "But that's okay, I know what this is," he stopped in front of the man and the child and Andre peered at him under his long eyelashes as he lifted his head from Rick's shoulder to see what T-dog was going on about. "This is sabotage. "

"Wha- what are you talking about?" Rick laughed at the man's ridiculousness.

"Oh, laugh it up but I got news for you Rick," he said, in all seriousness, but still comical. It was clear that he wasn't actually angry, just disheartened and frustrated that he wouldn't be able to woo Michonne through her son. "You're married."

Rick laughed again. "I know that," he told him. "I just, I heard him crying and I was just trying to help you out."

"Whatever," T said as he marched out of the room.

"T," Rick tried to call after him.

"I don't wanna hear it, Rick," the man said from the hallway. Rick listened as he heard the man's door close and laughed again.

Andre laid his head back on Rick's shoulder, tucking his head slightly under the man's chin. He relaxed more into him as the deep, soothing sound of his laughter rumbled from the man's chest and into his own. He liked Rick, he felt safe with him. He was Carl's dad and he had helped his mommy to keep him safe from the walkers that had tried to get him in the tent after they had gotten his daddy and Uncle Terry.

Rick felt the small boy sinking further into his chest and brought up a hand to rub his back, as he shook his head at the grown toddler who had just exited the room. He subconsciously pressed a kiss to the top of the boy's head, remembering when Carl was his age and would wake up scared and crying after having a bad dream. He felt awful for the little boy, he had started to get attached to in the last couple of weeks. "It's okay."

She stepped out of the shower and grabbed the large towel to dry her body of the leftover water droplets and sighed. That had actually been a decently length shower and she was happy that she didn't hear her son's wails from the other side of the door. She had heard some other commotion and thought she had heard Rick's southern drawl going back and forth with T, but whatever they were going on about, at least her son wasn't crying himself into a fit. She looked around the room and realized that she had left the clothes she had taken out for herself on the bed in her haste to sneak away into the bathroom. She was about to open the door and tell T to hand them to her, but a white terry cloth bathrobe caught her attention. She threw it on and opened the door to the bathroom ready to relieve T-dog from his babysitting duties, but the sight she saw caused her to freeze in the doorway, her voice caught in her throat.

"And everything's going to be okay," she heard his deep voice grumble as he whispered soothingly to the boy in his arms. "And we're all going to keep you safe Dre. Carl's going to keep you safe, and T-dog, and Andrea, Jacqui. And your mom, she's definitely going to keep you safe. And I'll keep you safe too."

She fought back the tears that came to her eyes as she watched this man she had only met a few weeks ago, cuddle her son as he tried to quiet his fears of the world by offering his services as protector, something his biological father had obviously not thought enough of to do himself. She was going to brush it off as just a way to keep the toddler from crying, but she thought more of it after seeing him press a kiss to the boy's temple and realized that he was asleep. This was a quiet promise, a confession to no one but himself, and her, but he didn't know that she was there.

She felt something stirring within her. A feeling that she had felt before back at the camp after seeing him fall to the ground pulling Andre with him and realizing that he had just saved the most precious thing in the world to her. She hadn't really paid much attention to it then, didn't really have the time or the energy to tease it out of all of the other emotions she'd been bombarded with at the time. But now with a clearer head and the space and time to process, she felt it and whatever it was caused a warm feeling to spark in her heart before sending a line of heat from the origin straight through her abdomen and down to the meeting of her thighs.

Then he turned and saw her, and a smile instantly came to his face. She forced a smile back and pressed her thighs together trying to quell whatever that was that had her feeling dizzy.

He bent his head and whispered into the still sleeping toddler's ear, "We all better keep you safe unless, your mother's going to have our heads." His smile broadened and she laughed.

"Funny," she laughed as well as she folded her arms and leaned against the door frame. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'as out in the hall and heard him crying," he said nodding to the boy. "Figured I'd come in here and save him from T's sorry attempt at entertaining him."

"Yeah?" she said, he nodded. "Well it seems like you entertained him right to sleep."

They both laughed. "Look, I'as just trying to help, that's all."

Before she could reply she heard another knock at the door. The person didn't wait for a response before they pushed the slightly cracked door further open.

"Oh, hey," Lori said walking into the room. "I thought I heard you in here."

"Yeah, yeah," Rick said turning to face his wife. His jovial mood starting to fade as the thoughts of her and his best friend started to swim through his head again. He tried his best to quiet them, after all he had no proof and he hoped and prayed that he was wrong. "Just helpin' her out with this little guy," he said nodding to the toddler in his arm.

"Well it certainly seems like you did a good job," Lori said as she walked up and passed her fingers through Andre's curls. "He is just out like a light. Sweet boy." She smiled at the child.

They then just stood there awkwardly. All three of them. Lori turned to Michonne and took in the fact that the woman was standing in front of her husband, fresh out of the shower in a bathrobe and as far as she could tell, nothing else underneath it. The smile she wore on her face disappeared.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to take up you guys' time together," Michonne said stepping up to take her son away from Rick when she realized that the real reason Lori had wandered into her room uninvited was to retrieve her husband.

"It was no bother," he told her allowing her to take the boy from his arms. "I told you if you ever need anythang to just let us know."

"Thanks, Rick," Michonne said giving them a smile as they turned to leave the room.

"Bye, Rick," a small voice followed behind them.

This caused the man to stop and turn in his tracks. He saw that Andre's little eyes had popped back open but were quickly growing heavy again. He looked at Michonne who raised an eyebrow and smiled, already knowing what he was thinking. She was impressed too that he had so seamlessly graduated from Carl's Dad to Rick.

Rick let out a chuckle. "'Night, Dre." He then walked out of the room, holding Lori's hand as she followed behind him, but not before giving Michonne and unsure glare.

She waited until they were out of the door before she sighed and went to close it. Great, she thought. Another reason for Lori to dislike her. Not that she cared, but unlike Andrea, she would prefer to stay out of it with Lori. She had a bit too much going on for her liking and she did not want to get inadvertently sucked into whatever mess that was obviously still being woven.

She kissed Andre and placed him in the bed before grabbing her clothes and putting them on. She then went back into the bedroom and turned off all of the lights save for the night light on the wall that bordered the hallway, before climbing into bed as well, grateful for the safety and what would surely be the most restful night's sleep she'd had in awhile. Again, she just hoped that it would last.

* * *

 **A/N: Don't forget to review guys and let me know what you think of this chapter and the overall story. Ugh...I need this hiatus to be over.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Next Chapter hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Rick took a look behind him, a look at all the people that he had led here as the doctor explained what was happening, why they were all still just as fucked as they were before arriving to the CDC. His eyes locked briefly with Michonne's as she listened on. Her eyes flickered back over to the doctor as she adjusted Andre on her hip. He turned back to the doctor as well. The man obviously wasn't as stable as he had first figured him to be.

Shane made to go after the man and Rick reached out an arm to stop him. "To hell with this Shane, I don't even care," he then turned to his wife. "Lori, grab our thangs. Everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here now," he yelled to his group.

Michonne, had just made to move, still in disbelief of what was going on as T-dog and Shane tried to get everyone moving to collect their things. They hadn't been at the place a good week. Not even a full week from the carnage that was happening outside of the building, and here they were forced to walk back out of their safe haven and back into it. Andre reacted to the sirens quicker than she had as she felt his little body stiffen in her arms. "Wha's that, Mommy?" he asked looking up at her, tears already threatening to fall out of his big brown eyes.

"Shh, Baby, it's okay," she said as she turned to go and salvage as much of their things as she could, knowing they would need them if they were going back out there.

Then she realized that the noise got louder. It was the mechanisms for the doors, the doors were closing; she froze along with everybody else in disbelief of what was happening. He couldn't have just…

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn questioned, voicing everyone's fear but obviously not being able to believe it himself.

"You son of a bitch," Daryl yelled as he went after the doctor. Rick and Shane went to stop him while everyone else continued to process what was going on.

She stood shifting from foot to foot, processing and trying to figure a way out of their predicament. There had to be a way out of here. This couldn't be the end; they couldn't all just die like this. They had fought too hard and come too far, endured too much for it to just end with them sitting around accepting their deaths. True, they probably had a lot more to fight through.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just give up," she could hear the doctor say, causing her eyes to drift back to him.

She almost laughed as the statement reminded her of something her father used to always tell her. She wished it was that easy for her, to just give up. Her daddy had always told her that there were two kinds of people in the world, the kind of people that could easily accept defeat, and the kind that couldn't even if they'd wanted to. He had told her that she was that second type of person and he had told her that because of that life would probably be harder, but a lot more worthwhile. She didn't think she fully grasped the meaning of it until that moment. She really wished that she could give up easily because in all honesty it would probably result in the least pain, but what if like her daddy said, there was something on the other side of the pain that would make everything they would face on the outside worthwhile.

She heard a clinking outside of her head and looked back to see Daryl still hacking away at the door with the ax, Rick still making a valiant effort, begging the man to give them another chance to fight for their lives. No, this wasn't how they were meant to die. This group had way too much fight left in them.

Suddenly she saw the doctor walk away from Rick and they all watched as he slid his card in one of the devices that sat on the desk, suddenly she heard the mechanisms tumbling again. They all looked in disbelief, but quickly got their wits about them as they all began moving.

"We're leaving?" Andre asked, clearly not wanting to nor understanding that they had to.

"Yeah, Peanut, we gotta go," she said as she stood at the opening of the door across from Glenn. She watched as Lori went back to grab Rick who was still discussing something with the doctor.

"Hey!" Glenn yelled, reminding them all of the urgency of the situation. "We got four minutes left! Com'on!"

Lori came back dragging a dazed looking Rick behind her; she wanted to ask what the doctor had said but knew there was no time.

"Let's go. Let's go Jacqui," she watched as T tried to usher the older woman along with them.

"No, I'm staying," she exclaimed.

"What?" Michonne shouted, as she turned back around to make sure she had heard the woman correctly. "Jacqui, you can't," she added to T-dog's argument. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes.

He watched as the woman explained why she was giving up. She was right, it was her choice. He didn't agree with it but it was her choice. He watched as Michonne walked back down to her.

"No, no, Jacqui," she said grabbing the other woman's arm, "you're not thinking straight just come with us. "

The woman assured them she was thinking very clear and touched Michonne's face, before doing the same to Andre and smiling, telling them all to take care of each other.

They seemed to have accepted her answer as they thankfully started making their way back towards their exit.

"I'm staying too," he heard Andrea confess. Michonne stopped again, and looked at her friend. "I'm sorry Mich," Andrea continued before turning to Dale, "I'm sorry."

"Andrea, no," Michonne said. Rick could see her slowly making her way back inside of the room prepared to argue with her friend. They had three and a half minutes and they still had to make it to the exit and find a way out.

"'Chonne," he said gently placing a hand on her arm. She still seemed focused on Andrea so he took the toddler from her arms, figuring he would have a better chance at keeping her focused if he had her son in his arms. Surprisingly, the boy didn't put up a fuss. "We have to go." He felt her loosen her stance and tugged on her arm slightly causing her to turn towards him. "We have to get Andre out of here." She nodded, but was still slow to move.

"Go," Dale yelled towards them, knowing they were wasting precious seconds. "I'll get her."

He turned and started moving again, using his words to push Lori ahead of him who was holding onto Carl's hand but continually looking back behind him to make sure Michonne was still moving with him. Glenn was ahead of him and pushed the door to the stairwell open. He watched Carl and Lori run ahead and stopped leaning against the door to hold it open to allow Michonne and T to get ahead of him. He then entered the stairwell behind them, Andre in one arm and the other hand clutching the rifle.

"Dad?" he heard Carl calling from somewhere above them.

"I'm right behind you, Carl," he said, knowing the boy was only calling because he didn't see him anymore. "Keep going." They reached the top of the stairs and he stopped watching as Daryl, Glenn, and Shane ran towards the windows and started hitting them. A few curse words leaving Daryl's mouth as he realized that the windows weren't as easily breakable as he'd hoped they'd be. He looked around, trying to find another option.

"Rick," he heard his name being called and turned to see Carol running up to him. She pulled a grenade out of her bag. His eyes got big then flickered back to Michonne as she looked at Carol like she had grown another head. Carol as if reading both their minds explained. "I found it in your things when I was washing your clothes."

He shifted Andre in his arms before handing him over to his mother then grabbed the explosive from Carol. "Everyone get down!"

* * *

"I'm hungry Mommy," Michonne heard from her son as he sat on top of the hood of the car she was searching.

"I know baby," she told him, continuing to search the car. "Just give Mommy a few more minutes, then I can take you back to the camper with Andrea, and we can get you something to eat. Okay?"

"'Kay," Andre said sounding a little sad.

She had been trying to ration the food that she had for the boy since she hadn't had much left. Hopefully they would find some things in the car graveyard they were currently scavenging, if not. Their next mission would have to be to find somewhere they could get food.

They had been on the road for a little bit after the CDC. They were tired, their lack of sleep building up again and they didn't really have a plan, or a spot to settle. It had been a rough couple of days. She and Andre had been riding in the camper with Dale. She had wanted to be close to Andrea, keep her eye on her. She could tell that her friend was still not in a good place.

She moved an empty bag that was lying on the backseat of the floor of the car and smiled when she saw what was under it.

"Dre, you are never gonna guess what Mommy just found," she told him. She stood up from the car and saw that she had gotten the boys attention as he stared at her, a curious look on his face. "Gummy Bears." She held up the bag of gummy bears and a toothy smile lit up his face. She popped them open and handed it to him. "Now remember you have to save some for Carl and Soph." Andre only nodded as he continued to stuff little fists full of the bears into his mouth.

"Mmm," he said, causing his mother to laugh. She turned ahead as she saw Rick coming towards them and her smile instantly disappeared.

"Down," he mouthed to her as he motioned with his hands for them to make themselves invisible. "Get under the cars," he urged them. She looked behind him and saw the small herd of walkers that were heading their way.

She took in a deep breath and slowly picked Andre up from the hood of the car. "Okay Dre, remember how Mommy told you, you have to be quiet when the monsters are around," she was now stooping to the ground. Dre nodded. "Well, there are some of the monster's heading this way now Baby, so we're going to have to play a very good game of hide and seek. And we're going to hide under the cars. Get under, Baby." The boy's eyes had grown wide in the last few seconds as his little head turned frantically searching for the monsters. "It's okay, it's okay. Mommy's right here, and I'm gonna hide with you, and I'm gonna be here with you the entire time." She unsheathed her katana and laid down, scooting her body into her son's to push him further under the car as well as creating a space for herself to lay next to him. "Close your eyes, cover your ears, and be very quiet and still okay." He nodded again as his little hands flew up to his ears and he squeezed his eyes shut burying his face into her side.

She heard them before she saw them and smelled them before she heard them. She watched as the feet, some of them barely attached to the legs, ambled by in search of their next meal. She tried to quiet her breathing. She felt it was too loud as it reverberated in her ears and she hoped that it was just her imagination driven by her fear because if she was in fact breathing as loud as she thought she was, the walkers would definitely hear her. Her skin tingled as she was ready to act at any moment.

She didn't know how long it had been, but it seemed it had been too long as the amount of feet passing by seemed to slow. Maybe they had survived this. Maybe they had gotten lucky. Then she heard it. A scream. A little girl. Sophia. She heard the girl scream again and tears sprang to her eyes as she could tell she was panicking. Sophia had been the hardest to try and train even though she was the oldest. She had been shy, the least in control of her emotions. She wasn't used to fighting back. Years of emotional and physical abuse had left her a shell of the girl she probably would have become if her father hadn't been a no good piece of shit.

She could hear the girl continuing to scream sporadically and knew that she was now on the run. Her mind raced, they needed to get to her. She would panic, she wouldn't remember what she had told her to do and she honestly didn't know that it would work if she did. She felt Andre stiffen against her as they heard Sophia scream again, still becoming more distant. She could feel her breathing quicken even more. Then she saw it. Rick's boots as the hopped over the side rail of the freeway. She took a deep breath, glad that at least one of them had been able to make a break to go after the child. She continued to look in the direction she had seen Rick's feet disappear; hoping someone else would be able to follow, to help in the search for Sophia. When she saw no one, she made to move herself. She was quickly halted as she felt Andre grip her shirt tighter, a whimper leaving him as he felt his mother's body, his safe space, moving away from him. She turned to look down at the boy and came face to face with a face full of freckles. Carl, he was staring straight at her, fear obviously written across his face as he stared straight into her eyes. She looked around to see if she could eye another adult in the situation, but she realized that from where they were she could see no one, and as far as she could tell with Rick gone, she was the only one that Carl was able to lay eyes on. She looked back into the scared blue eyes. He didn't blink as his eyes bore into hers, pleading with her not to do it, not to leave him.

She couldn't break eye contact with him as he was quietly willing her not to. That coupled with the little fingers of the three year old digging into her side grounded her in her space. She couldn't leave them. Rick was out there looking for Sophia, she couldn't leave Carl and Andre. She wrapped her katana free arm around her son, and continued to look at the eleven year old staring at her. "It's okay," she mouthed. "Stay where you are."

He nodded and licked his lips clearly still on the edge of panic. Still he kept his eyes on her as she saw the last few walkers pass by them. She waited a little while after seeing the last walker before she peeped out from under the car. After seeing no walkers and hearing the rest of her group starting to make noise, she turned and nodded to Carl before moving from under the car and pulling Andre behind her.

"Shh, you're okay," she hushed him as she stood, sheathed her sword and picked him up, letting him know that it was still not safe enough to cry out loud.

She watched as Carl ran to Lori and she wrapped her arms around him. Carol just stared out into the direction which she had seen Sophia and Rick go off into.

"What happened?" Daryl asked as Carol began to cry.

"So- Sophia. She ran off. In th-that direction. Rick went after her," Lori pieced together as best she could, obviously still shaken by the events that had taken place. Before she could finish her last sentence, Daryl ran off in the direction that she had pointed, Shane close behind him.

She wanted to go. She wanted to go so badly, but Andre was not letting go of her at this point and she wasn't too keen on letting go of him either, especially if that meant turning him over to one of the other group members as they all seemed to be a little out of it.

"Andrea," she heard Dale calling as he made his way from the top or the RV. She was about to look away until she saw the woman exiting the camper with blood all over the front of her clothes and her face and a screwdriver in her hand. She looked back in the direction that Daryl and Shane had just disappeared and decided to go check on her friend.

* * *

"Did you find her?" Michonne heard Carol's voice ring out behind her as she stood next to Glen, discussing where they should go after this once the three other members of their group came back with the girl they had gone off to find.

She turned to look behind her and saw the three men emerge from the trees, the hopeful expression leaving her face after not seeing any sign of Sophia.

"Where is she?" Carol persisted, refusing to believe that the fact that she didn't see her daughter didn't mean that she wasn't alive and well.

Rick stopped in front of her and Daryl looked away as Shane's gaze drifted between his best friend and the increasingly distraught woman.

Rick looked at Carol, then down at the ground before he forced himself to make eye contact with her again. He stared at her a moment and her at him, waiting for him to tell her where her daughter was. "I'm sorry," he said, the sentiments of his words written all over his face.

Carol stared back at him and slowly began to shake her head. "No," she whispered. She looked to Daryl then back at Rick. "No," she said louder before she side stepped the man and walked in the direction they had just come from. "Sophia," she called out. "Sophia!"

Shane put up an arm to physically stop her, but it was Daryl who offered her an explanation. "We can't go back out there right now. It's getting dark. We'd just be tripping over ourselves, and we'd be no help to her."

"But she's out there. My daughter's out there," the woman tried to get them to understand. "She's twelve. We can't just leave her out there all by herself all night."

"That's why we stay here, the night. Try to stay safe," Shane told her. "First thing in the morning we head out and try to find her."

Carol just stared at her as if she couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

Rick turned and walked over to where Carol was. "Look, I saw her out there. She was alive the last time I saw her. She couldn't have gone far," he started trying to explain.

"Wait what do you mean?" Carol asked but didn't give him a chance to answer. "You saw her?" She paused this time, but Rick only nodded. "Well why didn't you bring her back with you?"

"I told her to come back towards the highway," he started to explain. "I had to get the walkers away from us."

"You left her?" She half yelled at him. "Why did you leave her?"

"We'll go back out. We'll find her," he tried to reassure her.

"But you left her," the woman cried.

"Come here sweetie," Lori said as she wrapped her arms around the woman's shoulders and guided her to the guard railing where she sat her down. She sat next to the woman and began rubbing her shoulders, a comforting gesture.

Michonne walked over to Carol, Andre in her arms. She wanted to let the woman know that she was there if she needed an extra shoulder to lean on. Soon their whole group was gathering around, Rick being the last to join as he crouched down in front of the woman.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "But there were two walkers chasing us. They were starting to catch up with us. So I told her to head back towards the highway while I led the walkers away from her. She did what I told her to do. We found her prints, but we lost them. Somethin' probably scared her. She's probably hiding out there somewhere waiting for us to find her. We'll regroup, organize, and wait for the sun, and we'll go back out there and find her."

The woman only stared down at the road, her head shaking slowly. "But you left her," she said looking at her.

"I made what I thought was the best decision at that time," he stated earnestly, hoping the woman could see it from his point of view. That he really did want to come out of those trees with her little girl and it hurt him deeply that he hadn't, but he still held out hope.

"Yeah well," Shane started, causing Rick's head to turn towards him. "Nobody doubts that." He stared at man, hearing the subtly patronizing tone the man was using before looking back to Carol.

"We'll find her," he tried to reassure again.

"But you left her! How could you just leave her she's just a little girl, and you," her voice broke. "You just left her out there."

Rick looked at Carol, his mouth open. He was starting to second guess himself now. Second guess if he had made the right decision and if he had maybe, just cost the little girl her life because of it. But it was the only way he saw at the time to possibly save her, but maybe there was another way.

He could feel Shane's eyes already on him and knew that he wouldn't find the support he needed there. So he turned to the only other person in the group that he trusted to have faith in him. His eyes turned up towards his wife. The woman he had loved since he was a teenager, the woman who had given him his son, his only child. The woman he would give his life for. But her eyes didn't hold what he was seeking, No, it was the exact opposite. She pulled the other woman closer and squinted her eyes at him, the judgment and disappointment clear on her face and in her eyes as she stared back at him.

Michonne watched as the man's shoulders slumped and his eyes dropped down to the ground. He looked at his fingers for a while, his hand still covered with what was obviously walker blood. She continued to watch as he quietly stood and turned away from them and began to walk down the road by himself. His spirit was clearly stomped on; he was inside of his head beating himself up. Everything about his body language screamed it.

She turned to Andrea and handed Andre over to her, before stepping closer to Lori and tapping her on the shoulder, preparing to take her place. "I can sit with her while you go see about Rick," she offered.

Lori didn't move. She only lifted her head long enough to glance at Rick before turning back to Carol. "He's fine," she said causing Michonne's brow to furrow. "I'll stay with her."

Michonne's eyes grew wider. Was this woman serious? Had she not just seen her husband walk away, kicking himself down the road as he did so? She looked back up at Rick and saw him stomp the road with the ball of his foot before his hands flew up, seemingly not knowing what to do with themselves before finding their way to the top of his head. She could see his profile frown up as he turned his head slightly, cursing silently into the wind.

"Lori," she said, her voice sounding slightly desperate as she wanted the woman to do something to comfort her hurting friend.

"Like she said," Shane stated, calling Michonne's attention to him, "he'll be fine."

Michonne glared at him for a moment. Of course he would want the woman who he had been screwing not to stand at her husband's side at a time when he needed her. She rolled her eyes at him before looking back down the road at Rick. She then turned to Lori, seeing that the woman still made no effort to budge. She looked back at Rick and sighed before moving to follow him down the highway.

It took her a while to catch up with him as he had already made it a good piece down the road and turned off onto a little side path. She followed him down the short curvy path and stopped when she saw him washing his hands and face in the small stream that was there. He stood and walked over to a log that laid by the creek and sat down, his head turned downward the entire time so he did not see her. She started towards him.

"Hey," she said as she walked around the tree trunk. He looked up at her briefly before turning his eyes back towards the ground. He didn't answer, so she took it upon herself to take a seat next to him and stayed quiet. He did too for a moment.

"You know I didn't ask for company," he told her in a less than friendly tone causing her to turn towards him and give him a look. "You don't have to be here."

She decided against giving him attitude back and turned back to watch the water in the stream flow pass them. She sighed, "I know. That's why I'm not saying anything and I want to be here," she informed him. "I know I don't have to." It was the truth, even though he was saying that he wanted to be alone, she knew that in a situation like this, it was exactly the opposite. From the way the people closest to him had treated him back on the highway, she figured he had to already feel lonely, so even though she knew he probably wouldn't want to talk, she could at least just sit with him and let him know that someone was on his side, that the group was still with him. She did have to say one thing though. "Just wanted to let you know that it's not your fault. We'll find her."

This caused him to look up at her again. She was sitting on the edge of the piece of wood and her hands were extended slightly behind her and she leaned back on them. Her legs were extended out in front of her allowing him a full view of her body. She had her eyes closed and her head tilted up towards the sky to catch the few rays of sunshine that were breaking through the trees. She seemed so peaceful, and it made him slightly angry at her that she could portray such calmness when his mind was raging war against his psyche. His eyes subconsciously started to move down the length of her body. The sun beamed on her skin making parts of her almost glow from the angle the rays were striking her. He noticed the shirt she had on had ridden up even higher than it usually did due to her positioning. He couldn't help but to notice how tone her abdomen was and the way the jeans she had on hugged her hips and thighs, dipping at the meeting of her thighs just enough to let him know where her womanhood began. When he realized what he was doing he quickly turned his head away from her and clenched his jaw, feeling himself growing even more upset at her but he didn't know why. She had given him a brief distraction from his current torture but had in turn inflicted her own type of torture on him.

"Why are you here?" he asked her still not looking back at her. But she did open her eyes and turned to look at him. "Because I want to be. Everyone needs a friend, even when they don't necessarily want one. But if you want me to go," she started as she adjusted herself to sit up straighter, "I'll go." She told him, and he turned to her, instantly regretting being mean to her and realizing that he really didn't want her to go. "Just know that I'm with you." She was about to stand but without even thinking about it, he reached out and grabbed her wrist causing her to stay where she was. She turned back to him, waiting for him to elaborate on the gesture.

He continued to hold onto her and looked back out at the water flowing by before turning back to her. "Stay," was his single request. He knew that she had every right to flip him off and walk away after how he had just treated her. "Please."

She searched his eyes for a few seconds taking in the hurt and pain there that he had been trying to conceal from her just a moment ago. She gave him a small smile before using her left hand to grab the hand that was wrapped around her right wrist. He willingly released his grip on her and she scooted closer to him, allowing his forearm to rest across her lap. She held onto his hand with hers and wrapped the other arm around his wrist as she began to rub soothing circles on the inside of his palm as she looked out at the creek.

He looked at her for a minute, amazed at how she had already started to help him feel better and give him more hope about Sophia and their current situation. Somehow he had been the last to join the group, knowing the least and the most physically unfit having just gotten out of the hospital, but had unknowingly started to take over the role of leadership from Shane. It was a responsibility he didn't know he was ready for just because of the guilt and fear of failing them.

He looked down at their hands and saw her small her hands were compared to his. He often forgot that she wasn't a very big person even when he was looking directly at her. Like when she used the blade on her back, part of the awe of it all was that she took down creatures twice her size making it seem effortless but yet the entire thing made her seem bigger than she actually was. Her personality, her presence was something that could not go unnoticed. He looked back up at her face, but she was oblivious to the effect that she was having on him. He smiled, realizing that her son had picked up that trait from her. He often forgot Andre was a three year old until he needed a nap or got mad with Carl. She was special, and he was happy that she was on his side. He looked back down at their hands for a moment before turning back to the stream and watching the water flow by.

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 **A/N: Alright, let me know what you guys think. And a big Thanks! to my BETA for this story!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Whew! So alright...first I just wanted to thank you guys for all of the reviews and for sticking in there with me. It's been a long journey but that's mostly because I've been busy and Season two mostly bored me to pieces so I've been trying to glance over this chapter and the next couple of chapters but thanks to my Beta for pointing out that it was lacking. I knew it was but I was just going to close my eyes and cover my ears, so thanks to her for holding me accountable. Hopefully you guys like these chapters more than I personally liked Season 2...well actually the later half of the second half of that season was okay...either way. Hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think. Sorry again for the long wait.**

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He walked out on the porch, letting the screen door slap against the wooden frame of the house as he welcomed the mild night air against his skin and into his lungs. He walked over to the balcony looking out and taking a deep breath, thinking about all that had happened and all that was to come but the weight of what he was currently going through was weighing heaviest on his shoulders.

Carl had been shot. They'd been out in the woods, searching for Sophia. They'd split up into groups, Carl begging to come with him so he'd allowed it. But his little boy was growing up. Demanding that he stay close didn't have the same effects as it used to. He'd wandered away from them a small space and everything surrounding the events after that had been a blur. He could still hear the hiss of the bullet cutting through the air. At least he thought he could. Everything from that moment had been amplified. The bullet in the air, the bullet entering his son's body injuring parts of it he needed to keep him alive and then the sound of his boy hitting the forest floor with the loudest yet most gentle thud.

He'd faintly remembered hovering over him, Otis appearing out of the shadows and pointing them in the direction of help. He'd guessed the man had apologized but if it wasn't directly related to someone telling him how he could save his son, it didn't really register to him at that moment. He'd scooped the boy up and ran in the directions of Otis's finger, not sure if he was supposed to change directions at any point. The man had tried his best to keep up with him to direct him and somehow, he'd made it to Herschel's porch. The older man had come out to find out what was going on and at his neighbor's urgency, agreed to help the child.

This had taken days and multiple supply runs, the last one the boy's accidental shooter had not returned from. Everyone was skeptical about the nature of the man's death. He didn't know for sure what had transpired with Shane and Otis while they were on the run and he couldn't put as much faith into the man as he once could have, when the concern came up about him possibly doing something to aid in Otis's death. However, he had returned with the supplies needed to save his son and for that he was grateful, but he was sure whatever else was going on would change their bond forever; he had a feeling that it would change his relationship with his wife as well.

He leaned over, his forearms resting on the balcony, his thumbs pointing upward allowing pressure points for his forehead to rest on.

"Nice night out," he heard her soft voice coming from somewhere off to his right. His head instantly popped up to find her sitting on the porch swing, a sleeping Andre in her arms as she looked out beyond the porch into the country night. She turned to him and gave him a smile, knowing he hadn't noticed that she'd been there until she spoke.

He stood up straight, puffing his chest out as he looked back at the door, wondering how he'd missed her on his initial exit out onto the porch. He guessed his mind had just been preoccupied with thoughts of his son and all of his relationships that seemed to be falling apart. "Hey," he said looking back at her. She smiled wider, knowing he'd tried to cover up his being off guard, before looking back out into the distance, lightly pushing the swing with her feet.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked as he made his way over to her.

"Andre couldn't sleep, and I still can't," she admitted. "I came out here hoping it would help him sleep."

"Well, looks to me like your plan worked," he said smiling down at the sleeping boy as he took a seat next to her. "He's out."

She laughed as she looked down at her son who she figured she could probably drop on the ground at this point and he wouldn't wake from his peaceful slumber. "He's going to be wide awake tomorrow. You better get some rest so you can keep up."

"Yeah," she agreed with a smile, but made no effort to move towards their tent. He just turned, staring out into the distance himself.

"He's going to be alright you know," she answered after a brief moment of silence.

"I know," he agreed. "Herschel's doing a great job. We were lucky to find him. "

"I don't think he's feeling so lucky to have found us," she answered him.

He stared at her, then back at Andre, reading into her comment. He decided to speak on it. "We'll be fine," he offered. "All of us. All we gotta do is stick together. As long as we have each other, we'll be fine, no matter if he decides to kick us off of his farm or not," he stated, letting her know that he planned to stick with her and Andre, as long as she planned to stick with them.

She was going to answer, but Andre's bad sleeping provided the comic relief the increasingly heavy moment needed as he let out a loud sigh and flopped his head and one arm back, almost flopping out of his mother's arms. She let out an exasperated sigh as she tried to reposition the boy and smiled when she heard Rick unsuccessfully trying to stifle a laugh.

"He really is a wild sleeper," he said.

"He's a really wild sleeper," she confirmed.

The silence settled in once again. He took over the task of keeping the swing moving as she repositioned herself, folding her legs under her into a wider cradle for the growing boy. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, their arms brushing slightly against each other here and there, reminding them of the other's presence as their individual thoughts consumed them.

"How's Lori?" she spoke the thought before her mind could contemplate the extent of the conversation she might be throwing herself into.

At hearing his wife's name, he looked down at his hands that rested in his lap and smiled sadly before looking back up. "She's…" he started to answer. He paused. "I don't know how she is," he said before turning to look at Michonne. He didn't know if it was his anger at the thoughts of what was going on between his wife and his best friend and what she'd told him about their son or the fact that he just felt so at ease and open with the woman sitting next to him that made him continue down the route he went. "She doesn't really talk to me anymore and when she does, I'm not really sure it's her I'm actually talking to."

A frown came to Michonne's face as she realized even though she'd asked about the tip of the iceberg, she was about to find out about a lot more of it than she'd bargained for. It's not that she didn't want to be a listening ear or a shoulder for him; she just didn't really know how to respond to him on this subject knowing that she knew something he didn't.

"She told me," he continued with contempt oozing from every word, "she'd preferred it if our son would've died."

He didn't provide the rest of the context, but she knew what it was. And she knew that even though the rest of the context would have allowed a little more perspective on Lori's words, that didn't matter to Rick because he saw no scenario where it would be better for his son to be dead than alive.

"She's tired," she tried to offer in the woman's defense as she played with one of Andre's little hands as a distraction, inspecting his nails to make sure she'd scrubbed all the dirt from under them.

"We're all tired," he said, a little offended that she didn't automatically jump on his side. "I'm not too tired to take care of and protect my child. Are you tired, Michonne?"

She continued to look at Andre's hand as he turned to her, his defensive manner obvious. She didn't know why but tears sprung to her eyes. She was tired. She was exhausted and she didn't know how she would continue to go on, but she didn't have a choice. She missed Mike, from before, not after the fall of civilization as they knew it. She missed having someone to share the load with. She was tired, but she didn't have that option. And she wasn't that tired.

She didn't answer him. She just blinked back the tears, and looked up at him. Refusing to answer him and give him ammunition against his wife. She didn't like defensive Rick, not when he was defensive with her anyway. Normally she could handle it, but tonight, she was too tired for that. And the subject matter had taken away the little peace she'd found sitting on the porch.

He paused, his defensive demeanor dissolving as he looked into her eyes. He didn't mean to upset her, it just that he was angry and he had nowhere to put that anger. He had to focus on staying alive and keeping the people he loved and cared about alive. Normally he would confide in Shane with these types of things, but he didn't really feel that was appropriate anymore as he was sure something had gone on or was still going on between Shane and Lori, especially after witnessing their little discussions here and there. They seemed to be arguing more than anything but one thing for sure was that they were trying to keep their interactions hidden. They weren't doing a very good job at it, even if he didn't exactly know the contents of their talks, he had a good idea of what it could be

He didn't really feel that he could share it with anyone else in the group, except for maybe her but that had been unfair to her. Everyone was dealing with their own demons and now he wished to take hers away, instead of unloading his onto her.

"I think I'm going to get to bed," she said as she made to unfold her legs from under her. Great, he'd run her off. He wanted to say something but the words escaped him.

He watched as she struggled to readjust Andre to stand with him and stood up before her. "Here, let me take him," he said as he began lifting the boy from his mother's arms. She made no effort to stop him, so he placed the boy's head on his shoulder, as he secured him in his arms. She stood up, more easily now, and followed him as he led the way off of the porch and to their tent.

She was silent the entire way and followed mindlessly as she was lost in her thoughts. She fought back tears for all she had lost and endured and all that was sure to come. Tonight would definitely be one of those nights when she silently cried herself to sleep as not to wake Andre. She would cry, but she would continue to fight. Like her grandma had told her, it was okay to cry. Sometimes you had to cry after the fight, sometimes before and even sometimes during, but what mattered is that you kept fighting, and she would.

She hadn't realized how close she'd been to tears until they were inside of the tent. Rick had laid Andre down on his cot and turned to find Michonne teary eyed. The calloused pad of his thumb brushed against her cheek, calling her attention to the lone tear that had slipped through.

"Michonne," he called softly, his index finger resting under her chin as his thumb still lingered on her cheek. He put a little pressure on her chin, trying to get her to raise her head and look at him but she pulled away.

"I'm fine," she told him moving away from him to sit on her own cot.

Now he felt like shit. She'd been so at ease it seemed on the porch and he'd accidently stumbled out into her solitude and dragged all his bullshit with him that had obviously conjured up her own ghosts.

"I'm sorry I didn't," he tried again but she brushed him off.

"Goodnight Rick."

He watched as she ignored him, climbing under her sleeping bag before turning off the light that the small lantern provided, leaving them in the dark. He looked over at the boy once more before returning his gaze to her, again wanting to say something but unable to find the words to adequately express himself.

"Goodnight," he said sadly as he didn't want to leave her just yet. He wanted to stay with her and make sure that she would be okay, be an ear if she needed one, and hold her if she needed him to, but he knew that would be wildly inappropriate. But still he wanted to. He turned and tried to leave quickly but he heard her breathing hitch and stopped in his tracks. He lingered there for a minute before he went back in and sat next to her cot, on the ground, and leaned his back against it. He placed his hand on her shoulder and began rubbing his thumb over her smooth skin.

She tried to gather herself, but too many tears had fallen so she didn't turn to face him, but she did manage to speak. "Rick, what are you doing?"

"Someone once told me that everyone needs a friend, even when they don't want one," he explained. "So I'm going to sit here with you until you're not so sad anymore, so don't try to run me away."

At this she started laughing. He smiled. She turned over and looked at him, wiping away a few stray tears. "You know you're just as annoying as Glenn and Daryl."

He looked at her as if he was contemplating her words before he replied. "Yeah, well. I'd like to think I'm better company than Glenn and not as weird as Daryl." He sounded like a high school boy pointing out his strengths after the high school girl he'd asked out told him he was the least qualified candidate in the entire school to be her date.

She laughed again as they had had a conversation earlier about the two. All Glenn wanted to do was talk about Maggie and Daryl had come back from his hunt for Sophia with a necklace of walker ears around his neck. He'd always been a little, different, but he seemed to be taking a steep dive off of the crazy cliff lately.

"Come here," she said still laughing a little as she moved to wrap her arms around his shoulders giving him a hug from the side. He placed one hand on her forearm and looked back at her.

"Michonne, seriously," he told her knowing that he needed to make it clear that this was a sincere offer that he intended to honor. "If you ever need anythang, help, a break, anythang, just let me know. I'll help in any way I can."

She looked at him and smiled. "Thanks Rick," she said pulling him in for another hug. Then she pushed him away. "But what I really need, is for you to get out of my tent so I can get some rest."

He shook his head and made to get up, seeing that she was feeling better. "I tell you, a good deed never goes unpunished."

"Yeah, tell me about it," she joked back at him as she pulled her sleeping bag back up to her chest. "Goodnight Rick."

" 'Night Chonne," he said before quietly slipping out of the tent.

* * *

"You think it's safe?" she asked him as they discussed the logistics of the run they were planning.

"I think it's about as safe as we're going to get with everything going on," he told her. He was honest. They needed supplies, especially if Herschel was going to kick them off of the farm. Maybe they could barter with him. Some of the supplies they retrieved on the run for a safe place to sleep.

"Who all's going" she asked, sticking her hand in her back pockets as she shifted to the other foot. These types of things made her anxious. She knew she needed to go, she wanted to go. She wanted to pull her weight. But the thought of leaving Andre terrified her still. She knew he'd be in good hands with their group members. And Maggie, Beth, and Patricia absolutely adored the boy. But still she felt guilty leaving the responsibility on their shoulders. What if something happened while she was gone? Then they'd be responsible for a three year old. She was torn. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't.

"Daryl, T, Glenn, and Me," he told her. "Andrea's forcing her way along."

"Yeah," Michonne started to explain for her friend, "she's still trying to prove herself after almost shooting Daryl."

"Well I think its best if she takes a little more time to get her head on straight" he told her. "But if she wants to come, I won't stop her." He paused and stared at her before finishing. "And, you. If you're up for it."

"You know…," she started but was interrupted by a distressed Mommy, coming from the bedroom where her son and the mending eleven year old were.

They both hurried to the bedroom door to find Carl sitting up in bed surrounded by pictures, pictures Lori had taken from their house when they initially evacuated and that he'd decided he wanted to go through since he was still confined to the bed. He was feeling better, but they wouldn't let him move around too much. Carl had a calm, but guilty look on his face while Andre stood in the bed with a distressed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, calling Andre's attention to the fact that she'd answered his call for her. He turned to look at her and then pointed his little finger in Carl's direction.

"Cawl won't let me look at the pictures," he accused.

Carl defended before anyone could say anything else, "He slapped me."

"Andre did you slap him?" Michonne asked.

Andre just looked down and pouted, knowing he was in trouble. "Andre?" Michonne said in a firmer voice. Carl snorted, prompting Andre to turn and take another swing at him. He was slow on the reach around and Carl took the opportunity to push him down on his butt making sure that he missed.

At this Rick burst into laughter at the gall of the little boy who had more fight in him then his little body could carry out, and the fact that his son had just so effortlessly thwarted his efforts. It was adorable, and hilarious.

Carl and Michonne started laughing as well causing Andre to start crying. "Aww, come here sweetie," Michonne said still laughing as she sat on the bed. Andre huffed. He wanted no part of her. She was clearly on Carl's side in this matter. She didn't care; she grabbed him and cuddled him in her arms anyway.

"Com'on," she said as she saw Andre fighting a smile at her tickling, "I'll supervise the picture viewing.

Rick had come to stand next to the bed when he heard Carl say, "Hey Michonne, check this one out." He watched as his son smiled and handed a photo to the woman whose eyes immediately lit up.

"Is this," she started a wide smile on her face now.

"That's my dad," Carl confirmed. "When he was in high school."

Rick's smile dropped. "Give me that picture." He said reaching his hand out to Michonne and turning to Carl. "You little traitor." Carl just smiled.

"Oh, no. No, no, no," she said sliding Andre from her lap and standing from the bed as he was making his way towards her. "I have got to show this to Glenn."

"I don't think…" he tried, but before he could finish, she was yelling out Glenn's name.

He reached for the picture but she turned her back to him, putting her body between him and it and yelled for Glenn once more. She was going to yell again, but a fit of laughter overtook her as she found herself being wrapped up in strong arms and lifted up into the air.

"Give me the picture Michonne," he smiled as he continued to try to take the picture from her.

At this point, Carl was laughing and Andre was jumping in the bed, cheering his mother on in what he thought was a wrestling match.

"Rick," they heard a new voice that didn't really sound like it was having as much fun as the other people in the room. Everyone's head snapped to the door to find Lori standing there. There were a few moments of silence as Rick and Michonne's smiles fell. He gently placed her back on the floor and Michonne handed the picture back to Carl, though she couldn't help one last smile at the boy as he was still smiling and that picture was still pretty hilarious as was Rick's response, but she knew what it must've looked like to Lori and she also knew that she wasn't Lori's favorite, especially if she was picking friends for her husband.

Michonne looked back at Lori, and her smile disappeared once again as the woman continued to give her husband a stern look. No one said, anything, the adults overcome by the tension and the children seemingly unaware of it. She decided to excuse herself.

"I'm going to go grab some food, before we head out later," she said. She turned to Andre, "You play nice. And no more hitting Carl. Carl don't tease him," she warned. They both gave a mischievous smile as she left the room. She made it a point not to make contact with Lori as she passed the woman who was leaning on the door frame. Lori didn't move to try to give her more space, but she decided to ignore the rudeness.

"So Michonne's going with yall?" she asked him.

He scratched the back of his head. Yes, he felt a little guilty for being caught playing around with Michonne as he did. But it was innocent. Unlike whatever exactly had gone on, or was going on, between her and Shane, he was sure of it.

"I don't know," he was honest. Michonne hadn't given him an answer yet. "You'd have to ask her that." Lori just stared at him as the two boys began bickering over the pictures again.

"I'm gonna go check with Glenn," he said as he walked towards the door, stopping in front of her. "See if there's anything else we need to do before we leave."

With that he walked by her to go find Glenn. She looked back at her son and the little boy, seemingly settling into a plan to share the pictures, before turning and heading towards the kitchen to prepare a meal for those who were going on the run.

She heard two women talking as she approached the kitchen. She could clearly tell that it was Andrea and Michonne. They were sharing jokes and laughing. She turned the corner and the laughter immediately stopped, the mood of the room dampening for the second time.

She just stared at them and them at her. She went on about her business, grabbing a pot from the dish rack and filling it with water. Michonne continued to make her sandwich as Andrea stood propped against the fridge, staring at Lori and giving Michonne looks behind the woman's back, trying to make her laugh.

"Glad, you decided to come with us," Andrea finally said, getting tired of holding their conversation for Lori.

"Yeah, well. What else am I gonna do?" Michonne asked, nonchalantly. She was not expecting an answer from Lori.

"Well there's a lot to do around here if anyone's looking to help," she said. "God knows Patricia and I have been working our fingers to the bones. Those girls have been helping, but we could still use some help around here."

Andrea and Michonne shared a look. Michonne shook her head, opting to ignore the woman. Andrea on the other hand had been waiting for Lori to take any of the bait she'd thrown in the last few days. Finally, she had a bite.

"Oh no, I think you got it covered here, Suzy Homemaker," she said. Lori sat the pot down on the stove with a clatter and turned around to face her, clearly offended by the comment. She continued. "Either way, we're more of a hands-on type of girls. Not the type that sits around waiting for the men folk to rescue us."

"I'm not saying you need to be rescued," Lori continued to make her point. "All I'm saying is the men have it covered."

"Or you just don't want us hanging around your men," Andrea replied, stressing men. "Afraid we're going to snatch them up? Michonne has been getting a little friendly with Rick."

"Andrea," Michonne scolded her for using her and Ricks friendship to taunt his wife.

"Well I'm sure her son would appreciate it as much as I if she stayed here and took care of him instead of scurrying off behind my husband all the time," Lori replied, seemingly thinking she'd just ended the conversation as she turned back to the stove.

Michonne's head snapped her way and Andrea took a step back, a victoriously mischievous smile coming to her face. She knew it took a lot to get her friend into the ring, but boy when she got in, she packed a mighty blow.

"Excuse me?" Michonne said, giving Lori a chance to recant.

She turned back to face them, not recognizing the out she was given. "Andre is here," she started. "Rick and Daryl and the rest of the guys, they can handle it. We need help here. I just think it'd be best if you stayed here with your son instead of running off on errands all the time. I get you and Rick are close, but your son needs you too. You don't need to be stuck all up under him all the time, especially out there. God knows you two spend enough time together when he's not out there."

Michonne scoffed and tried her hardest not to call the woman out of her name. "First off those errands," she started off in a patronizing voice, "are the only thing that has kept us and your sorry ass alive since everything went to hell."

The women didn't know it but Rick and Daryl had walked up on the outside of the kitchen at this point. Daryl stuck his hand out, hitting the back of it to Rick's chest signaling for him to hold up a sec and not reveal themselves yet, as he heard what sounded to be an argument coming from the kitchen. Michonne continued.

"Second, how dare you speak a word about what I do with my son when you're basically relying on everyone but yourself to provide for and keep yours safe. I do this for my son," Michonne said stepping closer to Lori and Andrea was starting to think she was going to have to step between them, but she really didn't want to. "Everything I do is to make sure that he is safe and has what he needs to survive out here. Your husband is NOT my priority. I take care of my son," she stressed. "That is why I do what I do. For him. And because of that I definitely have more important things to do than chase some skinny ass little white boy around in a world full of corpses trying to eat me and my fucking son."

She was going to continue but she heard something thud against the wall, calling all of their attention to the hallway where Daryl was currently leaning trying to hold in his laughter. At the phrase 'skinny ass little white boy' leaving Michonne's mouth, Rick's face had instinctively fell as he looked down at his body, knowing they were talking about him. Daryl witnessing this, had not been able to contain himself. He'd tried, but it was just comedic gold, and Rick had shoved him slightly which had caused him to bump into the wall.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized, as Rick came from around the corner revealing himself as well. Lori turned back to the stove, feeling guilty that Rick had caught her telling Michonne in so many words to stay away from him and also not wanting to get into it further with Michonne.

Michonne looked at the two men then back at Lori. She rolled her eyes at the woman before grabbing her food and walking out of the room, Andrea following her. Daryl went behind them, hoping to talk to Michonne after finding out she was going on the run with them.

Rick just looked at Lori, who turned back to look at him. They did not exchange words and Rick too left to go outside to discuss their mission with his friends.

* * *

"Mich wait up," Andrea called as she walked out of the back door in pursuit of her friend. The woman didn't slow at her request, so she quickened her pace to catch up her. "Hey, Mich," she said putting her hand on the woman's shoulder.

Michonne turned around, shrugging Andrea's hand away in the process. Andrea looked confused. "What the hell was that?"

A look of realization came over Andrea's face. "I don't know. You know how she is," she started to explain Lori's behavior.

"No not her," Michonne said. "I know how she is, and so do you, so why would you drag me into the bullshit you have with her."

Andrea's mouth hung open for a few seconds. She was surprised at how this somehow got turned around to Michonne being angry at her. This made her a little upset as well. "Okay first of all, the woman hates your guts, so I didn't drag you into anything," she tried to defend.

"I know she hates me Andrea, which is why I try not to acknowledge her delusional ass. You two, have this back and forth thing going on. Your fight with her is just that," she explained to her friend, "YOUR fight. I don't want any part of it. And to try to spin it like I'm going after her husband…com'on Andrea."

"Well I'm sorry," Andrea said with a snappy attitude. "I didn't realize you were trying to tip toe around little miss fragility."

"I'm not," Michonne told her than caught herself. She refused to let Andrea pull her into an argument that wasn't even the main issue. "That's not the point. The point is I want you to keep me out of your bullshit drama with Lori. I have more important things to focus on than fighting with that nut case."

"Oh, and I don't?" Andrea asked folding her arms and clearly offended. There was a time when she had more to worry about as well. Keeping her little sister alive…but now she had no one to look after. Her entire family from before was gone.

"That's not how I meant it and you know it," Michonne said refusing to get pulled into the role of the bad guy. "This shit is unnecessary. And it's not like you to entertain…" she paused and tried to reword herself. She really didn't know if this was like Andrea or not. She had only known the woman a few months. But one thing was for sure. "You've change," Michonne said simply. "Since we met. And I get it, I understand it. We all have. We have to change to adapt. But this, it isn't a survival mechanism. And I don't know what it is that you feel you have to prove to yourself, but you don't have anything to prove to me or anyone else for that matter. I've been your friend since we met and I'll continue to be your friend." She said sincerely. "Just keep me out of your bullshit with Lori." With that she turned and walked off, leaving the woman standing there looking after her.

* * *

"Thank you," she said as Glenn handed her the pregnancy test.

"You should tell Rick," was the young man's reply. He'd been on edge about this ever since she'd come up to him before the run and asked him to pick up the item. He'd known that the baby was more than likely Shane's not Rick. Not only had he seen the way the two had been carrying on before they reunited with Rick, but if Lori had thought that the chances were for the baby being Rick's, she would have likely asked him to get the test instead of bringing someone else in on her personal predicament.

She just stared at him, annoyed with his insistence that she tell her husband. "I will," she told him, "but first I need to find out if there's anything to tell."

"Just when you tell him," Glenn started, a little unsure as he felt he was overstepping his boundaries. But he was just trying to helpful. He had witnessed the tension between Lori, Rick, and Shane since Rick's return and thought it'd benefit her husband and what had grown to become his good friend, if she was honest with him because if she was pregnant, the truth would come out one way or another. "Make sure you tell him everything."

Lori was growing more impatient with him, but instead of engaging in another argument with someone who actually had some dirt on her, she opted to politely excuse herself from the discussion. "I'm gonna go," she held up the pregnancy test and turned to walk away. "Thank you," she said turning back to him one last time before continuing off into the woods.

She couldn't believe the situation she'd found herself in. Here she was, squatting in the middle of some bushes, hiding from her husband as she took a pregnancy test. A test she prayed turned out negative for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, it seemed that her luck had run out.

She walked out of the bushes a few minutes later and heard a familiar voice calling for her. "Hey…Lori." She turned to see her husband coming up behind her. Yeah, her luck had definitely run out.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed. It wasn't as long as I would have liked it to have been after such a long wait for an update but that's because I ended up splitting up what I had already written and the 2 chapters that I had planned to cover the farm may turn into 3 just because it makes more sense. Again, reviews make me happy :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys sorry for the long wait. I'm trying to get back into writing more consistently, hopefully I can find my groove (and the time) to do so. And I really appreciate the reviews and hearing you guys' opinions and takes on the story. If anything about this chapter is confusing or if you have questions please let me know. I say that because when I take a long break like this, its hard for me to catch the inconsistencies or the things that may not be so clear. Anyways, hope you enjoy.

Oh and also who thinks Rick's "After this, I'm following your lead," to Maggie was code for, "Maggie, I'm trying to put a baby in 'Chonne, but shhh, don't tell her. She'd kill me if she knew I was trying to knock her up on purpose." This happened in the preview on Talking Dead and I even feel like Maggie looked at him like "Wait...what? Did you just give me way to much information?" LMAO

* * *

The two men stopped and watched as their friend walked out of the front door, letting the screen door slam behind him. He walked angrily down the steps of the house and strutted off in a direction away from them, not even acknowledging their presence.

He had left their dinner group abruptly the night before after being relatively silent throughout the entire meal. They'd thought that maybe he was just tired, that finally the weight of it all was starting to take its toll, but now they were starting to think it was something else. It was almost as if he was angry at them.

"I'on know," Daryl said to the Asian man as they both continued to watch their friend go off into the distance. "You think we should tell him?"

"Yeah, but…," Glenn paused. "I don't know. He seems kinda pissed at something. What'd you do?"

This caused Daryl's head to snap towards him. He looked the man up and down before replying, "Why'd you think I did something?"

"Well, I'on know," he said shrugging his shoulder. "Being Merle's brother and all…," he left the rest open to interpretation as they both knew he had made his point.

"And that trumps his best friend screwing his wife?", Daryl pointed out.

They both stared at each other before staring after Rick. "You think he found out?"

Daryl grunted, and it sounded like an "I'on know." "Let's go find out," he said as he stood straight from leaning on the truck.

Glenn was about to follow him but saw Michonne exiting the same front door Rick had just come through. "Maybe we should bring some back up."

"Yeah," Daryl agreed as Michonne sauntered over to them.

"Hey," she greeted them. "You guys tell Rick about the barn walkers yet?"

"No, he isn't talking to us it seems like," Glenn told her.

"You talk to'em?" Daryl asked, knowing that if Rick would have talked to anyone outside of the people he'd known before the fall, it would have likely been Michonne. He seemed to have taken a liking to her.

"Nope," she said looking towards where Rick had stopped to dig in some of the crops Herschel had probably begrudgingly told him he could have.

"Well he's pissed about somethin'" Daryl pointed out.

"Only one way to find out what?" she said as she started making her way toward the crops.

Daryl and Glenn shared a look before following behind her. "If he starts some shit, ten of those candy bars you picked up says she kicks his ass," Daryl smirked at Glenn.

"Pft," Glenn said. "No thanks, I'm not into giving away my hard-earned merchandise."

"Rick," Michonne said as they approached the fence that surrounded the crops. "We wanna talk to you about something."

"Really?" The man replied with an inflection in his voice she couldn't quite place. But he said nothing else, and continued to dig in the dirt.

"Yeah, Glenn and I were by the barn earlier and…" she didn't get a chance to finish as he cut her off.

"Well that sounds like a problem you and Glenn need to solve," he countered, finally looking up at her.

Her brows furrowed and she continued to watch him, the two men behind her a little offended that they had no clue what the hell he was pissed, seemingly at them, about. They watched as he gathered the vegetables in his arms and walked out of the fenced in area, passing by Michonne but attempting to ignore her.

"Hey," she said reaching out to grab his arm. "What's your problem?"

"Yeah, Rick. What's itchin' your ass?" Daryl chimed in.

"I don't have a problem," he told her. "I just have other stuff to worry about. I have a son and pregnant wife to keep alive."

All of their facial expressions turned to one of realization, and he didn't miss the uncomfortable shifts in their demeanors. He looked them all in the face, and they all seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him, except for Michonne who eyes showed…

"I don't need your pity," he told them, growing angrier at the look she was giving him. "A heads up would've been nice though, that Shane and Lori were screwing each other."

"Nobody's pitying you," Michonne said, a confused look on her face at the hostile tone he was taking with her. He just stared at her, clearly upset.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that settled between the group.

"Sorry about that," Daryl grumbled.

Glenn swallowed thickly. "Is it yours?" he asked causing Daryl to nudge him with his elbow and give him a look asking what the hell was wrong with him. He only shrugged his shoulders and mouthed 'what?' He wanted to know, mainly because he could offer some words of support if it wasn't. If it wasn't his that meant that Rick didn't have to bear the responsibility of be caught up in Lori and Shane's craziness. If it was, well…

"Yeah, well don't be," he said, turning away from them and heading back towards the house.

Michonne stood there for a minute, looking after him before she made to go after him, picking up a light jog to catch up with him.

"Hey," she called after him. He ignored her. "Hey!" she called again. He didn't stop.

She finally caught up with him and grabbed his arm before turning her body around to step directly in front of him, blocking his path.

"I'm trying to talk to you," she told him, becoming a little pissed herself.

"What?" he asked dryly.

She just stared at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" They just stared at each other. "You cannot be serious. Trying to blame us for what Shane and Lori did."

He gave her a look that warned her she better watch her mouth and she returned with one that screamed 'Or what?'

"That is not our fault," she reiterated.

"No, but I bet everyone got a big kick out of me running around here doting over Lori and talking about all the thangs Shane and I did before…," he started.

"We wanted to tell you," she said, then realized she may have been speaking for people who didn't necessarily feel the same as her. "I wanted to tell you."

"Well why didn't you?" he asked taking a step closer to her.

"Because it wasn't my place," she said looking at him as if he had lost his mind. She didn't understand why he thought it would be okay for a complete stranger to waltz into his life and just destroy his relationship with two of the only three people he had left. Two people who clearly meant a lot to him. "And even if we did tell you, would you have believed us."

To that he didn't respond right away and she tilted her head to the side, still looking up at him, as if she'd made her point.

"Maybe not at first," he told her. "But you knew… I knew, something was off with them. If one of you would've told me."

"Or if they would have told you," she corrected him. "They were the ones that you trusted, that had a relationship with you. They signed the contract to be your wife and your best friend. They were supposed to be the ones to let you in on that secret, not us."

"Good to know we aren't friends," he tried to derail the argument because he knew she'd proven her point.

She opened her mouth to respond but then closed it again. She pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek and let out a frustrated laugh. She got it. He was hurt, and embarrassed, and angry, and honestly, she would be too but she'd like to think that she'd direct those emotions at their rightful targets. "Fine," she told him. "If you don't want to associate with us anymore so be it. But it still doesn't change what I just said. So if you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at them. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to go try and figure out how to convince Herschel to get rid of the walkers he's keeping in his barn."

With that, she walked away, leaving him standing there, fighting against himself not to go after her and start another argument. He didn't know why he wanted to do that, probably so he could circle back around to that friend thing and retract that comment he had made. But then he realized something. "Wait…" he said as he turned around to face her, "what?"

She only turned and rolled her eyes at him before proceeding to ignore him and head back over to where Glenn and Daryl were. He looked down at the produce in his arms, and decided to place them on the hood of one of the cars before he went off behind her.

They were already deep in the discussion by the time he reached them. "Herschel's keeping walkers in the barn?"

"Oh," Michonne said shifting her weight to one leg as she folded her arms across her chest, and causing the three men to look at her "look who's talking to us again."

Daryl looked at Rick who continued to stare at the woman before looking back at Michonne, who refused to even look in Rick's direction. He smirked to himself and looked down at the ground. Glenn just looked between the two hoping Rick didn't say anything to annoy Michonne further. After all, her katana was still securely strapped to her back.

"Yeah," Glenn finally spoke up. "I talked with Dale. He said Herschel thinks that they're still people and that they're just sick and he's keeping them there for when they find a cure."

"He still doesn't know what's going on beyond this farm," Michonne said.

"It's dangerous," Rick said. "If they get out, we're all in trouble."

"Maybe one of us should try talking to'em again," Daryl suggested.

"Does the rest of the group know?" Rick asked.

Glenn shook his head. "We gotta tell'em."

* * *

Herschel continued about his kitchen as he gathered things to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was completely aware of the pair of eyes that had been spying on him for the last five minutes or so. The little boy would peek his head into the kitchen every now and again but pull back quickly every time he thought he was about to get caught. It was almost laughable because he was doing such a bad job at keeping himself concealed. He didn't know why the little boy was spying on him. He didn't think much of it. As a matter of fact, the two children were the only reason he hadn't kicked that entire group back out into the wild to fend for themselves. He had planned to do just that after Carl had healed enough to be up and around, but after talking to his family, he had decided to let them stay. Especially since the little boy currently peeping at him from the hallway seemed to be the only person keeping his youngest daughter from spiraling back into her depression. He wished that he could pick and choose who he actually let stay but it was clear that if he kicked one out they would all leave, and he just couldn't do that to the children, especially after finding out they had already lost one child on the road. He didn't know how he would be able to face his girls again or his wife if he kicked the whole group to curb, those two boys included.

"You know if you come from around that corner, you might just find a snack in here waiting on you," Herschel said out loud to no one in particular as he finished putting the raisins on the last of the peanut butter laced celery sticks.

A few seconds later Andre walked into the entryway of the kitchen, revealing himself completely. He just stared at Herschel with those big, bright inquisitive eyes that resembled his mother's.

"You hungry?" Herschel asked the boy. Andre nodded immediately. He had actually come to the kitchen looking for an adult to make him a snack but it seemed they were all busy doing things outside of the house. Even Beth and Maggie were outside and his mother had told him not to leave the house unless he informed her first or he was with an adult.

"Well then come on in here and get you a belly full," Herschel said as he sat the plate on the table. He watched with a smile on his face as the little boy scurried over to the table, the oversized clothes trying to swallow him as he did, before climbing into the chair with a slight struggle and sitting on his hunches, digging into the ants on a log.

"Why didn't you just come in here and ask for some food if you were hungry?" Herschel asked him as he put his plate on the table and took a seat next to the child.

"Cause Mama said to stay out of your way," he said with a mouth full.

"Well why'd she tell you that?" Herschel asked already having a clue. He had let them know from the beginning that any problems and they would be gone immediately. It seemed that they were trying to make their presence as little known as possible around the house. He appreciated the thoughtfulness of it all and the fact that they were trying to respect his rules, but he'd started wondering if he'd come off too harsh. A few of them he still didn't trust, but the girls seemed to have taken a liking to a few people in the group, the little boy and his mother being two of them. They had been trying to help out around the farm and pull their weight as well. But Otis was still gone, and he didn't trust Shane as far as he could throw him and he was still trying to figure some of the others out.

The little boy just shrugged in response as he continued to dig into his food. Herschel smiled to himself before taking a bite out of his sandwich. They ate in silence for a while before Herschel noticed something. "Where's your partner in crime."

The child just looked at him as he popped a raisin in his mouth, so he decided to clarify. "Carl, where is he?"

"I don't know," Andre said innocently as he licked some of the peanut butter from his little fingers.

Herschel sighed. He really didn't like the way the older boy was always running off by himself. He figured that was one of the reasons the boy had gotten shot in the first place. And he hadn't spent all that time and effort saving the boy's life just for his parents to allow him to wander off and get eaten by a biter.

"You know Carl shouldn't go running off like that without an adult," Herschel said, hopping he was getting the message across to Andre that he shouldn't pick up on Carl's bad habits.

"It's okay," Andre said innocently as he picked up another celery stick, "the monsters won't eat him."

"Oh," Herschel said, with heightened interest, waiting to hear the child's reasoning for what he had just said. "And why is that?"

"Because he tastes bad," the boy stated forwardly causing the gray haired man to burst into laughter.

Andre was surprised at first to see the man laughing. Usually all he did was scowl. The man's laughter caused him to start giggling as well, as he didn't really know what they were laughing at, but he was happy Mr. Herschel had finally gotten happy too.

Rick heard the laughter but it didn't really register until he passed by the kitchen. He almost passed straight by until he realized what he had just witnessed. He backtracked and stepped into the kitchen. "Dre," he called to the child not stopping to assess the fact that Herschel had a smile on his face and didn't seem upset. He had been threatened enough by the man that he would make them leave if they didn't stay out of his way and he wasn't sure how Herschel would take to the children, even Carl, now that he was out of danger. "What are you doing in here?" he asked scooping the boy up from the chair. "Didn't your mother tell you to stay out of the way?"

"But I got hungry," Andre said as he patted Rick's cheek with his little hand.

"Oh leave him alone," Herschel butted in. "He's quite alright. He's just a child." He knew the boy's intentions. His were easier to decipher than the rest of the group.

Rick watched as the man finished his sandwich and placed the saucer in the sink. He eyed the man, not sure where his partially welcoming demeanor had come from. It wasn't until Herschel stopped next to him as he made his way out of the kitchen, that he started to get it.

"You don't listen to them Andre," Herschel told the boy with a smile on his face. "You can come and talk to me any time you want to." He ruffled the boy's curls before walking away.

"Did you get the monster out of the water hole?" Andre asked.

"No bud," Rick told him, thinking back to the failed attempt. Not that it would have helped anyway; the water was probably contaminated before they made their failed attempt. "Did you get enough to eat?" Rick asked deciding to change the subject as Michonne had told him that Andre was still having nightmares about walkers. The boy responded by nodding his head.

"You go run upstairs and grab your coloring book," he told the boy, "and I'll send Carl in to color with you in a little bit. But I have to go talk to Mr. Herschel first."

"''Kay!" Andre beamed as he ran to the stairs and began to make his way up them, crawling on all fours to help him complete the feat faster.

Rick watched him a while before looking back down the hall in the direction Herschel had gone. He sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to be an easy talk. One reason being, he'd had this talk already with no success. But his group, namely Shane, was becoming more unsettled about the walkers the man was keeping in his barn. Everyone agreed with him that it was crazy and put them all in unnecessary danger, but at the end of the day, it was still Herschel's farm and their presence there was still tenuous at best, but Shane, being the bully he had become, had wanted to storm in the barn and take down all of the undead. So now he was balancing the act of trying to keep their group safe by not offending Herschel and trying to placate a man whose guts he'd slowly come to hate. All while dealing with the betrayal from his wife and trying to force himself to still be a husband to her.

He and Lori had talked about the pregnancy and she'd made it clear that she wanted him to be the father. That was one thing, he guessed, but he didn't whole heartedly believe her. And after Shane had found out, well, it was safe to say that things were always on edge with the three of them. At least Carl was able to leave the house again. They also still had to find Sophia and Michonne was still only minimally talking to him after their little spat. He'd tried to apologize multiple times, and she'd accepted, begrudgingly but was still giving him the cold shoulder. He knew she'd eventually come around, but he still felt like crap because of it.

He took in a deep breath and blew it out before sucking it up, and following after Herschel.

* * *

 _(1 week later)_

"Okay, I'm sorry, but even with all the walker guts I've seen," Michonne said, "this is still gross."

"I know," Maggie said in her southern drawl. "This has always been my least favorite chore. 'Swhy Daddy never made me do it, unless I was in trouble for something."

Michonne faked a gasp, causing Maggie to smile, "You? In trouble?"

Maggie laughed. She had taken a liking to Michonne. And Glenn. And pretty much everyone else in the group save for Andrea. Who, speaking of.

"You guys need any help?" The blond asked stopping outside of the pig pen.

Michonne took a deep breath before standing straight, one hand on the shovel, the other on her hip. "As a matter of fact," she was cut off by Maggie.

"No. S'okay. We got it," she said without looking up from pouring the pig slop into the trough.

Michonne looked between the two women, Andrea with a sad look on her face, but too stubborn to admit that maybe she had been wrong for leaving Beth to her own devices and Maggie still too pissed that the woman could have caused her to lose her baby sister due to her careless antics and need to seem in control.

Michonne had to admit. Ever since getting to the farm, Andrea had been a little obnoxious, for lack of a better word. She'd understood at first, after losing Amy and all, that the woman would be a little anxious. She had abandoned the thought of wanting to join her sister in death, but now seemed to be trying a little too hard to prove something to either the rest of the group or to herself.

Andrea nodded to herself, before turning and walking back in the direction from which she had come. Michonne sighed again and looked over at Maggie who seemed wholly unbothered by Andrea's presence and subsequent absence.

"You know she only did it because she thought she was doing the right thing," she told Maggie, trying to keep her voice non-accusatory.

"Well it doesn't seem like she's very good at making good choices," Maggie countered, still continuing on with her chore.

"She's been through a lot," Michonne countered.

"We all have," was the younger woman's dry response.

Michonne looked off into the distance, contemplating her words. "Yeah." was her only response.

It was true. They'd all been through a lot, and the last few days had definitely taken a toll on their group as whole. The main event being Shane taking it up on himself to march over to the Greens' barn and proceed to destroy the lock they'd had on it keeping it closed before anyone could stop him. This had forced them to come up with a quick plan to dispatch the walkers without anyone getting hurt.

After putting all of the walkers down, she'd been the first to get in Shane's face about it since not only had the kids been outside that day, and he hadn't even discussed it with them before he let his rage take over and decided to unleash the dead, but he'd also encroached on Herschel's territory, the man who was allowing them to use his property as somewhat of a safe haven. The man who could still decide to kick their asses off of said property, even if he had given them the okay to stay a few days prior.

Her and Shane had been going at it pretty heavy, and she had just reached for her katana after he'd pushed her, but Daryl had jumped between them pushing the man away from her, and Rick had stepped in front of her as well as Shane had tried to charge her again for questioning his perceived authority.

"Don't," was the only word that had fallen from Rick's lip, and this had made Shane stop in his tracks. She'd thought the two men were about to get into a scuffle until a noise coming from the barn drew their attention. It sounded like a walker, or maybe a wounded animal. It wasn't until they saw the little girl they'd been searching for, for weeks amble out of the barn that they'd realized that that sound was the first sign of their worst fears coming to life.

She'd stared at the little girl, not believing her eyes as she heard Carol break down a few feet away from her as Lori held her back. The next thing she'd registered was Andre trying to climb her body as he'd seen his friend had turned into one of those dreaded monsters. She scooped him up, and held on to him for dear life as he hid his face in her neck.

It'd been Rick, who'd ultimately put Sophia down and she'd decided to finally forgive him for their mild differences and sought him out to make sure that he was okay afterwards, while Lori ran around comforting Carol and half-heartedly telling Shane to back off.

Herschel had handled his grief by escaping the farm and wandering into a local town to grab himself a drink for the first time in years, which had led to Rick, Shane, and Glenn going after him, which had ultimately led to them finding and capturing the young prisoner that was being kept in the barn as they tried to decided what to do with him. Yeah, the last few days had been emotional and crazy, but at least Herschel hadn't kicked them off of his farm.

She stayed quiet for a while before continuing to try to get her point across. "She's still a good person," she said turning back to face the brunette. "We all are."

Maggie let a moment pass before she replied. "I know. That's why I talked with Daddy about letting y'all stay."

This piqued Michonne's interest and took it away from Andrea. "So that was you're doing?" She asked.

"Well, some of it. Y'all had a lot to do with it too I suppose…minus Shane and all" Maggie said finally looking up at Michonne, a smile on her face.

Michonne smiled back. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"No worries," she said. "I couldn't be at peace knowin' we'd sent ya'll back out there. And Beth'd probably catch a case of the vapors if y'all took Andre away."

They both laughed as it was clear Beth had taken a liking to the boy. It was probably because after they told Andre that Beth was sick, and his mother had explained to him that it meant sick like his Daddy and Uncle Terry, he'd spent much of his days sitting outside of her bedroom door trying to get her attention, either by passing pictures he'd drawn under the door and calling her name repetitively in a sing song manner until she agreed to come out and play with him. He had ultimately helped to bring her out of her funk, by being as persistently annoying as only a three-year-old could be, and she had taken a liking to him, becoming somewhat of his babysitter since she still wasn't up to wandering past the front porch on some days.

Michonne looked up and to the right as something caught her eye in that direction. It was a brown sheriff's hat, sitting on top of the head of the eleven-year-old boy, whose father it belonged to. She watched as he and Carol passed words and became horrified as he raised his voice, allowing them to clearly hear what he was telling the older woman.

"He's a sassy little something ain't he," Maggie said. "He's lucky Annette ain't here or his backside'd be redder than a spring rose."

Michonne continued to watch with a look of disapproval on her face. It wasn't until Carl and Carol started to stalk away in different directions that she started towards the boy. "Don't count him too lucky just yet."

Maggie just watched for a minute before she went back to feeding the pigs and cleaning their sty.

"Hey," Michonne called as she stalked after Carl. He ignored her, but she knew he had heard her. "Hey!," she called more harshly, causing him to stop and turn towards her.

She continued towards him until she was a few feet in front of him. "What was that?" she asked him, clearly not pleased with what she had just witnessed. He just stared at her.

"I'm talking to you," she told him, just in case he was confused, but knew that he wasn't. Still she wanted to give him a second chance, because even though Lori and Rick were somewhere around, she was not about to sit by and watch him become a little asshole. Which she slowly saw happening since he had awakened from his coma after being shot. It was somewhat understandable, being robbed of his childhood the way he had then thinking he had lost his dad to the only other kid his age now gone missing and subsequently being found in walker form, but she wouldn't stand by and watch as he let that consume the sweet boy she had grown to know. He was still a child, and he still needed parenting. And since his mother didn't seem to have her head on straight yet and his father seemed preoccupied with his guilt and ensuring their long term survival, she thought it best that she stepped in.

"She was saying stupid stuff," the boy finally said, still clearly angry but obviously trying to dial back the tone he had used with Carol. "About Sophia and," he motioned outwards with his arms and hands, "everything."

"So that gives you the right to say those awful things to her?" she asked.

"I was just telling her it's dumb to think Sophia's happier in heaven. She was one of those things, even if there was…," she cut him off.

"Carl," she said, disappointment obvious in her voice. This caused the boy the stop talking and start to doubt his actions. "Are you kidding me right now?" He didn't respond. "I understand you are hurting. You've been through a lot, and I'm sorry for that. Sophia was your friend, but she was Carol's daughter. If you're hurt by what happened to her just after a couple of months of knowing her, imagine what her mother feels like. Imagine what your mother would feel like if she lost you like that. Would you say those mean things to me if I lost Andre like that? I almost lost Andre like that, Carl." He didn't answer though his head hung lower, but he still tried to maintain some of his anger. "If believing that Sophia is happy in heaven gives Carol some peace about this, none of us, including you have any right to take that away from her, no matter how much we are hurting." Still he did not answer. "Do you understand me?"

"You're not my mom," he tried her, his voice trying to defy how crappy he felt inside.

"And you better be damn sure glad I'm not," she told him. "You've been parading around here for the last couple of weeks being a little terror and everybody's been letting you get away with it, but it ends today," she could see the defiance that had sprouted up in him a few moments ago start to dissipate as she took on a firmer tone. "Now, I said do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said begrudgingly, which took Michonne back a little. She could still tell he was upset and surprised she got a ma'am out of him. He had only ever used ma'am when addressing her once before and that was when he thought she was angry at him for pushing Andre down. She felt a little bad because she wasn't angry at him, disappointed yes. Still, she wanted to get her point across. She'd have a heart to heart with him later, after they both settled down.

"I think you owe Carol an apology," she said, causing his head to snap up, defiance in his eyes. She gave him a look, preventing him from saying whatever was itching his tongue. He then proceeded to pout and drop his head back down before turning and stalking angrily back in the direction Carol had gone. She followed him to make sure he followed through.

When they found Carol, she was near tears as she was telling Rick and Lori what had just transpired between their son and her.

"Carl," Rick tried, but Lori cut him off. "What did you say to Carol?"

He didn't respond. He only looked back at Michonne, a scowl on his face letting her know he wasn't happy about what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry, Carol," he said.

"For what?" Michonne asked, causing Carl to turn and give her another look that implied she was pushing it. She just folded her arms and tilted her head. He looked back to his parents, his mother's body language reading more of Michonne's as his father still seemed to be trying to figure out why he would do such a thing.

"I'm sorry for saying those mean things about Sophia," he said.

"You should be," Carol said before stalking off.

Carl huffed, before turning to Michonne, not pleased with Carol's response to his forced apology. He'd expected more appreciation for doing something he didn't even want to do. "Can I go now?"

"I don't know," she said nonchalantly. "I'm not your mother." she reminded him. "Ask your mother."

He turned to Lori, then Rick, who raised his eyebrow at him letting him know that he was not going to side with him on this. So he turned back to his mother. "Can I go now?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Please," Michonne added from behind him in a less firm tone, causing Rick to look up at her. She was now smiling down at the obviously still pissed preteen.

Carl took a deep breath and let it out, "Can I go now, please?" He said before turning to look at Lori who seemed to be on board with the discipline Michonne had dished out.

"Yes," she told him, still clearly upset with him about what he had done. "But you make sure you stay near the house. Don't go past that tree in the front yard."

His face fell. This was his punishment. He knew it. His mother always put him on a string whenever he was in trouble. "But," he tried. His father stopped him with a firm, "Carl." He responded by huffing and turning to go back to the house, stomping along the way to make sure that they knew he was angry.

Michonne smirked as she watched him leave and made her way after him.

"One thing's for sure," Lori said, turning to go apologize to Carol again. "He's your son."

Rick just looked at her shortly before his eyes turned back to his son just in time to see Michonne knock the hat off of his head. He fumbled a little, but caught it quickly and gave her a look as he continued walking. She laughed as she had clearly made the boy's angry retreat into a goofy get away by doing so. Rick laughed as she did the same, before turning to him and giving him one of those smiles that put the sun to shame. His breath caught in his throat a little and he looked down, a smile still on his face as he tried to contain the butterflies in his stomach.

He looked up again when he heard her voice and saw her pinching Carl's cheek. "You're so adorable when you're mad."

Carl pulled away from her, still trying to seem angry, but Rick didn't miss the brief smile he tried but failed to suppress.

He watched them a little while longer before he turned and headed towards the barn to check on T-Dogg, who was guarding Randall, their prisoner.

* * *

A/N: I know that was probably a lot. But if I didn't specifically mention it, everything else is going on as it happened in the show and hasn't really been altered by Michonne's presence. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you review, and again let me know if anything needs to be cleared up.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. Life has been crazy, and may get a little crazier in the next few weeks, so I figured I might as well go ahead and post this before it takes another forever to get a chapter up. I won't comment on the show, because I am highly disappointed in the turn it has taken. /p  
p class="MsoNormal"I hope the update runs seamlessly with the last chapter. It's always hard to tell when I take so long to update. I appreciate you guys hanging in there with me though and look forward to your thoughts on this chapter. I hated the farm season except for some bits and pieces so I've been trying to use it as a team family bonding jumping off spot, though I feel like most of their bonding happened during the quest to the prison. Hopefully the next chapter will be the last one on the farm. Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

Rick couldn't help the smile that came to his face as the melodic, joyous noise coming from the woman sitting next to him strummed his ear drum. He turned to her and saw that her head was thrown back in amusement as she laughed at Glenn's joke that was, honestly, not that funny. The only reason he was even smiling as hard as he was, was because Michonne was so obviously amused. Actually, it wasn't until she burst into laughter that anyone in the room showed any other sign of appreciation of the young man's sense of humor other than a polite smile. Even Maggie was partially keeled over, giggling now.

"Michonne, don't encourage him," she managed through her laughter.

Glenn just sat on the arm of the chair she was sitting on with a satisfied smile on his face.

"I know," she tried to stop laughing. "But it was so stupid, it was funny."

"I aim to please," Glenn replied.

Rick continued to smile down at her as he adjusted Andre's little, big head so he wouldn't have a sore neck. They were all sitting out on Herschel's porch enjoying the mild late summer evening. It was nice, considering they had just buried Dale the day before. Everyone seemed to be in better moods and the atmosphere was less tense, especially after Glenn's attempt at humor. They had all spent the better part of the last few days arguing over what to do with the young man in the shed, and Dale having been bitten had set them back to square one. The man had been the boy's biggest advocate. Most of the group wanted to let him go, somewhere far away from the farm. The others wanted to kill him, out of fear of him and his group returning to seek revenge. Finally, after a lot of in fighting, someone had made the suggestion that they not talk about it for the rest of the evening, sleep on it, calm down, and resume the discussion the next day. It turned out to be a really good idea as they had a really nice dinner and was now sitting on the porch, talking and enjoying each other's company.

"It really wasn't that funny," Rick said still smiling down at Michonne, who was still laughing a little. She responded by smiling up at him and nudging her body against his in retaliation for him teasing her.

"Stop it," he laughed as he tried to shield Andre's peaceful sleep from the motion resulting from his mother's attack. "You're gonna wake him up."

"Mmm," Beth said swallowing some of her lemonade. "Dre's a lot of thangs, but a light sleeper is definitely not one of 'em." Everyone started laughing again. The girl had been walking around most of the day, complaining about how sore she felt and how awful her sleep was. The toddler had fallen asleep in her bed the night before and she had told Michonne to leave him when she'd come to retrieve him, a decision she would live to regret. "That child launched a full scale attack on me last night and didn't even open one eye. Did I tell you I almost fell outta bed?" She said eyeing Michonne as she realized she hadn't told the woman the entire story.

"Now that there doesn't sound like it's Dre's fault," Herschel teased her.

"It is so," Beth defended, in her southern twang. "I kept scooting away from'em and he kept scooting behind me, and before I knew it, I'as on the edge of the bed and didn't even realize it. He kicked and thankfully I saw his little foot coming t'wards me. I moved too fast trying to block it and I almost went down." Everyone was laughing again.

Rick looked down at the little boy that had fallen asleep in his arms, "Never hope I have to share a bed with you bud. Carl was bad enough."

"Hey!" Carl said from his spot on the steps as he turned to look at his dad.

"You've gotten better," Rick complimented.

They all continued their lite conversation, until Herschel remembered he had to put the horses up in the barn for the night.

"I can do it," Michonne said uncrossing her legs and standing up. "It's getting dark, and it might take you a while to get all the way out there. I can be back before it gets dark."

"Ooh-ho-ho," Glenn said bringing his hand up to his mouth and looking between Michonne and Herschel, causing everyone to start laughing. Michonne just smiled.

Herschel looked to his left at Daryl, who simply replied with, "She got'cha man."

This had become a thing and Michonne had been laying it on heavy throughout the day. After Herschel had warmed a little more to some of the group, the younger people had warmed to him as well. Unfortunately for him, that meant them, mostly Glenn and Michonne, teasing him about things, mostly his age. It started out slow, but his relationship with the two had grown quickly and it had progressed rapidly to them making direct attacks such as the one just witnessed.

"Yes, I'm older than you," Herschel started, "but that just means you two better watch yourselves because I still reserve the rights to beat your butts."

The group chuckled.

"Yeah, well, that's a lot of beatin'," Shane said eyeing Michonne, who mad a face into the air before shaking her head, seemingly convincing herself not to respond to the comment.

The porch grew quiet at the awkward comment, he knew they would but he didn't care. He had accomplished his goals with the comments. To annoy Michonne, who he honestly probably would have made a move for if they didn't hate each other and he hadn't had a baby on the way with a woman he already considered to be his, to piss off Rick, and to make Lori jealous.

He looked at the two people who'd been sitting on the porch swing with the dark skinned beauty. He looked at Rick first and saw the man staring straight back at him, scowling. Then he looked to his wife, who immediately looked away when he made eye contact. So he turned his attention back to Rick, who the comment had been really meant to rile up. He'd seen the way his former best friend eyed the woman, his eyes racking over her form involuntarily before he realized what he was doing and willing himself to look away. A small smirk came to Shane's face as he continued to hold eye contact with Rick while turning the beer bottle up to his mouth. He again turned his eyes back to Michonne, allowing his eyes to stroke every inch of her. A low growl escaped his throat as he watched the woman stretch her lean muscles after sitting on the wooden swing for so long. He had to admit, no matter how much he disliked her, she was nice to look at and the tank tops and tight jeans she wore, didn't do him or Rick for that matter, any favors. His eyes flitted sideways, back over to Rick, and he saw the man's jaw clinch. He smiled into his beer bottle before turning his attention back to Michonne.

"Oh thanks Shane," Glenn inserted, trying to break up the awkward tension that was currently consuming the group. "I've been doing a lot of squats, I didn't think anyone noticed."

This caused everyone to fall into another round of laughter.

Michonne sighed and started towards Herschel. "Whatever," she said before leaning down, putting her hand on his arm and giving the older man a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight Mr. Herschel. I know you'll probably be asleep by the time I get back. It's already past your bed time."

"Could you stop before he kicks us out again," Daryl said smiling up at her. She just giggled.

Herschel swatted her arm gently, "I told you to stop calling me Mr. Herschel."

"Sorry," she said smiling down at him. "Habit." She then turned and headed for the steps, but her path was obstructed.

"Can I help you with the horses?" Carl popped up in front of her.

"You sure can," she told him. "If your Mom and Dad say it's okay."

He turned to his parents. "Don't go wandering off," was the only words his father offered.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Michonne said making her way back to Rick. She reached for the boy in Rick's arms but he just pulled back from her.

"Would you stop," he said. "I got him."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Because I can take him and put him inside."

"No," he told her, and adjusted Dre so he could grab her katana that lay beside him now, "but you can take this." He extended the sword to her and she took it.

"Yes, Dad," she said teasingly, he fought a smile, which wasn't so hard as he felt his wife, cuddling up to him.

She turned and proceeded to descend the few steps. "Com'on she said as she passed Carl. Because your dad doesn't think we can take down a few walkers without a big knife."

She looked back at Rick knowing he'd heard her. He only smiled at her and shook his head. "She burst into another fit of laughter when she heard Daryl's reply to her comment. "Well I didn't know what it'as called. It was my first time seeing one'a those thangs."

"I guess I'll start making my rounds," T Dogg said as he stood as well.

Maggie stood as well, grabbing Beth's hand, "Help me get started on the dishes." The younger girl followed her sister into the house without making a fuss.

"Someone's gotta bring Randall his dinner," Herschel reminded.

"I'll do it," T Dogg volunteered.

"No," Shane said standing up and turning the beer bottle up to his mouth, downing the last of it. "I'll do it."

Everyone left on the porch gave him a look. "You sure man?" T asked. It was no secret that the man was very much on the side of killing the young man and therefore, as he had voiced, didn't see the point in wasting their resources on him.

"Yeah," Shane said. "I'll bring it to 'em."

"Suite yourself," T said as he stepped off the porch to do a perimeter check.

Lori and Rick, being the only two on the porch with the man after Glenn had followed Maggie into the house, started their own conversation. Lori trying to make a fuss over Andre and Rick gently pushing her hand away from the child's face.

"I'm feeling a little restless," Shane said, drawing Rick and Lori's attention towards him. It seemed as if he wasn't even talking to them, as he was looking out into the front yard of Herschel's property. "Maybe I'll even stop by the barn, and give Michonne a hand." With that he turned back to the couple sitting out on the porch with him, a smile on his face as he took in both their silent responses to his comment. Rick looked pissed again, and Lori just sat there with a dumbfounded look on her face.

Lori decided to focus on her husband. "Com'on Rick. We should get him in bed," she said referring to Andre. "Michonne's probably going to be dog tired when she gets back." She waited for her husband to join her in standing, but he continued to stare at his former best friend. "Rick," she said stepping between them to break the eye contact.

He shifted his gaze to her before looking down at the boy in his arms. He stood and followed her into the house, knowing Shane was just trying to get a rise out of him. He assumed that everyone could see he and Michonne's budding friendship as Patricia had mentioned it to him and Daryl had jokingly told him that Michonne had him by the balls.

Shane was left standing out on the porch, scowling at the door that the people he had once considered family had just disappeared through. He stood on the porch, contemplating for a while before he was interrupted by Herschel.

The older man just stared at him skeptically as he approached. He returned Herschel gaze, biting the inside of his cheek to refrain from saying something inappropriate to the old man. He didn't need to give everyone another reason to be down his throat, although he didn't feel he'd done anything anyway. Rick was the one that had swooped back in and stolen his life from him. As far as he was concerned, Lori and the unborn child she was carrying was his. It wasn't fair that Rick got to have it all.

The old man held his tongue as well as he handed him the plate and retreated back into the house for the night.

* * *

"Here" Michonne said picking up the crate of garden tools and handing them to the boy, "return these to the shed."

"Okay," Carl said, eager to please.

"Outside, of the shed," she corrected. "Do not go inside of the shed and do not bother Randall."

Carl gave her an outdone look, "I won't," he defended himself against the subtle accusation.

"Yeah, you better not," was her response as she smiled at him and tipped his hat with her finger. "And hurry back. It's getting dark. I don't want you playing around out there."

Carl slipped out of the back door to the barn prepared to make the short trek to the shed. She continued securing the horses in their individual stables, making sure they had enough of what they needed for the night.

She had just gathered a couple of the saddles when she noticed someone walking into the front entrance of the barn, and turned slightly to see that it was Shane. She rolled her eyes and decided to ignore him as she walked over to the wall to hang the saddles.

"You must like being out here with the horses," he commented, though it sounded like more of a question.

She made a face to herself as she hung one of the saddles. She turned to grab a few she'd dropped next to the stable and carried them back to the rack, dropping them to the ground before beginning to hang them on their individual racks. She didn't answer him. She didn't like him, and he knew that, so she had no idea why he was trying to befriend her. The task wouldn't be that easy. He had too much bullshit to make up for before she even started to see him as someone she wanted to associate with. Yes, she would work with him to keep their group alive and taken care of, but as far as she was concerned, that was the extent of their relationship.

"Need help?" he tried again.

"Nope," she replied without missing a beat.

He looked her up and down, admiring how her smooth skin stretched over her lean muscles as she bent to pick up another saddle. He licked his lips as he got a full view of her backside in those tight jeans. He had to give it to Rick. After all these years he thought his friend had only one type, but it seems all these years he'd been hiding his attraction for a nice ass. And even though he himself was attracted to Lori, she was lacking in that department as well as the hips and thighs that accompanied Michonne's tempting backside.

He licked his lips before taking note of her katana lying a few feet away from her. In a few short steps he was standing behind her. He had approached her so quickly she hadn't even had time to realize that he had covered the distance between them until she turned and walked into his hard form.

She tried to take a step back, but her back collided with the wall. Her breathing immediately quickened and she began preparing to defend herself. She didn't know what he was about to do, but she knew that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be to her benefit.

"You know," he said not bothering to move to give her more space, "I gotta say, I have no idea what you see in Rick, but I can definitely see what he sees in you."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she tried to step to the side to go around him. He blocked her by putting his arm out, his palm flat against the wall at her shoulder. He rested on his outstretched arm, allowing himself to lean down a little, bringing his face closer to hers. "You know darling, I can give you a way better time than that asshole ever could."

She turned and tried more aggressively to go around the side his arm wasn't blocking but he grabbed her wrist and pinned her back to the wall.

* * *

Carl had just dropped the box off at the shed, and though he'd wanted badly to check in on Randall, just to see what he was up to, he was determined to show Michonne that he could be trusted to do as he said he would do. The last thing he needed was to go into the shed and something happened causing her to catch him in there. She would never let him live it down. She'd probably be a little disappointed in him as well and he didn't want that.

He slipped back in through the back door of the barn and started making his way to the front where he figured Michonne was since he didn't see her immediately upon entering. But something caught his attention, making him stop in his tracks. A male voice that sounded like…Shane. He slowed his gate and was about to call out to them, but Michonne spoke before he could.

"Let go of me you fucking asshole!" he heard Michonne threaten.

He peeped around the edge of the first stable just in time to see Shane push Michonne forcefully back into the wall behind her. "Not until I get a little servicing first," he grinned down at her and it made both Michonne and Carl's stomach turn.

She moved to slap him but he anticipated her movement and caught her free hand in his other hand. She struggled to get out of his grip but he was too strong and had too tight of a grip on her. She winced when he forced her other arm behind her back. She was effectively restrained. One of his hands held both of her wrists behind her back in a vice grip.

He smiled at the look she was giving him. She'd been giving him that look since they arrived at the farm and finally he was in a position to do something about it. He'd show her once and for all that he was the boss, not her and for damn sure not Rick, he thought as he dug his fingertips into the exposed flesh just above her hip.

He brought his free hand up to touch her face and she moved away as best she could. "Don't you dare fucking touch me," she gritted out. She was son angry, mostly at the fact that she had allowed herself to be subdued by this prick.

"Oh sweetheart," he laughed, "by the time I'm finished," he moved his hand away from her face and caressed the exposed skin of her lower abdomen with his thumb, "you're going to be begging me to touch you."

She felt his fingers slip beneath the fabric of her jeans and steeled herself. She cursed herself inwardly. She'd left her katana lying next to the ladder leading to the landing of the barn and had allowed herself to cornered. She was trapped by someone bigger and stronger than her. She wasn't in a good position but she refused to let this fucker see her break.

"Now let's see what sweet little treasure you've been saving for me," he said as finger grazed against her center.

Carl saw Michonne jerk slightly and noticed that Shane's hand had disappeared down the front of her pants. He saw Michonne wince and heard Shane hum and took a breath as the man withdrew his hand from the woman's pants. His heart stopped again though when he saw that same hand flick the button of her pants open. He looked again between the two adults and saw the tears forming in Michonne's eyes. He knew what was happening. His dad was a police officer and he'd had some assholes in his class that would touch the girls in places they shouldn't have and the girls did not like it. His mother and father and even Shane had made sure that he knew that it was not okay and that he would be in a world of trouble if he ever did what those boys had done. He knew that it was something awful to do to someone else. Which was why he knew he had to step in.

He stepped out into the opening, revealing himself, but neither of them noticed him. Michonne was still focused on trying to maneuver out of Shane's grip, a somewhat frightened look on her face, as he was now working on her zipper. He gathered his nerves.

"Michonne," he called out nervously, making sure to keep his eyes on hers. He had once looked to Shane as a beloved uncle, but the way the man had been treating him lately and the way that he had been behaving towards everyone else in the group, including his parents, he was now afraid of him.

Both the adults' heads whipped towards him, Michonne's face filling with even more horror at the sight of him. He hesitated, but continued, thinking quickly, "My dad wants to talk to you."

"Tell him she's busy," Shane said, dismissing him. "Go back up to the house." The man turned his attention back to Michonne, but she kept her eyes on the boy.

She was afraid for him. Unlike Rick and Lori, she had no trust in Shane, and she figured he could hurt Carl if he didn't stay out of his way, and she could tell from the look on Carl's face that he knew what was going on and that he wouldn't go quietly.

"He said it's important," Carl spoke up again.

Shane's head snapped back in the boy's direction and he just glared at him. The silence was thick with tension, and Carl couldn't help but to chance a quick glance at the man as his eyes had been locked on Michonne's. He swallowed thickly before looking down then back up at Michonne.

Michonne wanted to cry, not for herself, but for the boy. "Carl it's fine. Go…"

"Tell him she's busy," Shane stated more firmly. He continued to glare at the boy, sending him a silent yet threatening message.

Carl swallowed again, deciding to overtly address the elephant in the room. "I'm not leaving without her," his voice shaking.

"Carl," Michonne whispered desperately to herself. She'd wanted him to leave, to get himself out of harm's way. She was more afraid for him than she was for herself.

"What'd you just say to me?" Shane asked as if daring the boy to repeat himself.

Carl took his eyes off of Michonne once again and looked at Shane, "I said I'm not leaving…"

He cut himself off and found himself backing up rapidly, his eyes going wide as Shane started towards him. "You little bastard." Shane tried to go for the boy, but he'd forgotten about the agile samurai in the barn with them.

Before he could get his hands on Carl, Michonne had grabbed her blade, withdrawing it from its case as she stepped in front of Carl. She made short work of swiping the blade across Shane's chest, slicing the white shirt he had on and leaving a superficial cut on his upper chest. It would have been deeper if he hadn't jumped back.

The silence was back, only this time Carl didn't feel as threatened by it. He figured Michonne's hand on his chest, pushing him behind her had something to do with that.

"Consider this your first and final warning," she growled out. "If you ever put your fucking hands on me again, I will end you." She could tell he was even more pissed than before now that he had lost control of the situation.

She just glared at him, debating whether she should just put her spear through his heart right there, but she figured the boy who's heart she could feel beating wildly against her hand on his chest had been traumatized enough.

"Com'on, she said moving her hand to Carl's shoulder and heading towards the exit, making sure to listen for Shane's approach. He didn't

Their walk back from the barn was silent save for Michonne's, "Do not tell your father or anyone else about this."

Carl just looked up at her, but she continued looking straight ahead. He was going to protest, but he caught the lone tear as it fell from her eye and down her cheek and decided against it. He wanted to tell someone, mainly his father. They should tell someone so they could know what Shane did and help keep him from trying to hurt her again. But he had never seen Michonne so vulnerable. He hadn't even seen her cry when Mike died. He was sure she had, but was able to hide it from him. And sure, she'd cried when her dad had saved Andre but those were happy tears. These were not happy tears, he'd never seen Michonne like this and it rattled him, so for now, he would honor her wishes.

* * *

"Michonne's gone beat your ass she catch you lettin' him touch that thang," Daryl said as he reloaded his crossbow.

Rick waved him off with a smile as he squatted with the child standing in front of him. "She ain't gone do nothan'."

"I'on know man," Glenn chimed in. "She's been in a mood all day."

"Yeah," Daryl agreed as he searched for another target "What's that about?"

Carl just looked suspiciously at the three older men. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't break his promise. Not yet anyway.

They had all been out practicing their shooting. The people who were used to handling guns teaching the ones that weren't. Michonne had been the first to excuse herself which coincidentally happened right as Shane showed up. His mother had followed soon after, not having taken more than five shots. She had shot a gun before, but she needed practice. The others had then gradually drifted off leaving the four men and the two boys. Michonne had left Andre in Rick's care after the boy had put up a fuss about coming into the house with her. She didn't want to leave the boy around Shane but she figured he was safe with Rick. Though she might have had second thoughts if she saw the man placing a gun in her three year old's hands.

"I'on know," T Dogg said. "But she damn near sliced me in half when I walked into the kitchen this morning. I mean I scared her," he admitted, "but she's usually not that jumpy."

"Maybe she's just getting antsy," Daryl suggested. "I mean she hasn't left this farm in almost a week. Drive anybody a little stir crazy." He picked up his crossbow and aimed it before letting it go, hitting another squirrel. He went to go and retrieve it.

Rick contemplated everyone's words, trying to come up with his own scenario as to why his friend's demeanor changed all of a sudden. But he was also trying to focus on the toddler in front of him with the gun as well. It wasn't loaded, but he was trying to get the boy used to the feel of the weight of the weapon in his hands. He knew that his mother would not approve, and she had a point. Unlike Lori, she was all for Carl learning, but she'd stated Andre was too young to one handle the weapon correctly and two, lacked the maturity needed to understand the seriousness of the weapon. And she was right, but unfortunately the boy was on an accelerated timeline.

"Dre, you gotta hold it," Rick said with a smile as he grabbed the gun and the boy's hand helping him balance the gun again. He had removed one of his hands from the weapon and almost dropped it.

"My pants keep falling," the boy said as he used one of his hands to try to pull up his pants.

"That's because your mama keeps picking up clothes for Carl and tries to put you in 'em," Rick said causing the other men to laugh.

"Or maybe he's too little," Carl teased.

"Shut up Cawl!" Andre bellowed, his voice turning serious which in his case was cute more than intimidating.

"Don't listen to him, Dre," Glenn told the toddler as he ruffled his curls. "You're a big boy."

"Yup," Andre agreed.

"Ya'll think it's because she finally realizes she wants me?" T Dogg added with all seriousness.

The other men looked at him silently. They weren't sure he was serious at first and then after realizing he was, they weren't sure how to let him down. Glenn was the one that finally decided to bite.

"Yeah, that's not it," he said dismissively allowing everyone to go back to what they were previously doing.

"How you know?" T asked.

"Because it's not," Daryl grumbled.

"It's not," Rick agreed smiling at T Dogg. Everyone knew of the man's infatuation with the woman but every since the CDC, Rick had found special pleasure in teasing the man about it.

T just sucked his teeth and waved his hand at them causing Rick's grin to widen.

It grew silent between the group for a while, each of them engaged in their own thoughts and projects. Rick showing Andre the mechanics of holding and aiming the gun, Daryl cleaning his squirrels and the others working on their weaponry.

Carl was the first to speak, not being able to bare the silence or the secret anymore. "Her and Shane got into last night when he came out to the barn," he blurted out causing Daryl and his dad to look at him. Rick just looked at the boy as he'd made eye contact and saw the intense stare down the boy was giving him, as if begging him to pick up on what he couldn't say.

"Yeah," Glenn acknowledged, "they're always getting into it."

Carl looked at Glenn for a moment then back down at the gun in his hand. He decided to speak again. "Yeah, well she seemed really upset when we left the barn." He chanced a glance back at his dad and made eye contact again briefly before going back to cleaning his gun.

Rick took a minute to try and process what his son had said, or hadn't said. He didn't know about Shane and Michonne's run in and that was odd because usually one of them would come to him going on about the other one.

"Pow," Andre said, breaking Rick's thoughts. "Pow. Pow." He pretended to shoot the gun.

"We have got to teach you some better gun noises, Lil Man," T Dogg told him. The silence settled back between them as they each went back to their own tasks. But it wasn't long before they were interrupted again.

"What are you doing?" Michonne asked rounding the bushes, causing everyone to look up at her. She wanted to laugh because it looked like all of them had seen a ghost, but she held her composure as she stared at the gun in her baby's hand.

No one said anything, and Andre quietly slipped his hands away from the gun leaving Rick holding the evidence on his own. She looked at the gun then back at the man and the little boy.

"I'ma go bring these to the house," Daryl offered as he stood up and picked up his five squirrels. He started off towards the house.

"I'll come with you," T Dogg said not wanting to bare witness to Michonne's wrath as she now had her arms folded and had taken up a stance that implied she meant business. Glenn just followed quietly behind them.

Andre feeling the weight of his mother's stare, turned in Rick's arms and dug his little fingers into the sleeves of the man's shirt and buried his face in the man's chest. Rick couldn't help but to laugh when the toddler whispered, "Mommy's mad," to him.

"So, it's funny?" Michonne said stifling a laugh of her own, having heard the toddler's not so effective whisper.

Rick stood, wrapping an arm around Dre and picking him up as he did. It would have been hard not to as the boy was still clinging to him. "It's not what it looks like," he tried to defend. He held up the gun, "It's empty."

"I don't care," she said sounding a little more annoyed now. And that's that thing that the others had been talking about. It seemed like she was in a funk. Usually, he would have thought that she would have continued to laugh it off, but she'd been like this all day. He didn't know why.

She walked towards him and took Andre from his arms. "Rick, we've talked about this."

"Yeah, I know," he said hanging his head slightly. "I'm sorry." He gave her a look that usually made her laugh and tell him that that trick didn't work on her, but this time, she just shook her head before turning her attention to his son.

"You're mother's looking for you," she told him. "She wants you to come and eat something. And you," she said turning her attention back to Rick, "we are going to make the final decision on Randall after lunch."

He just smiled and nodded at her. "Mommy," Andre said wiggling in her arms. She'd felt the boy trying to escape a while ago but was purposefully holding on to him. She caved and placed him on the ground. "I wanna go play with Beth," Andre said about to run off.

Michonne grabbed his hand and started to remind him about what she'd told him about running off. Rick smiled at the interaction before him and happened to look in his son's direction. Carl locked him in a death glare immediately and the smile fell from his face. He was about to ask the boy what was wrong but the preteen quickly nodded towards Michonne, without her noticing since she was engaged with Andre. He then pointed to his own forearms and wrists.

Rick squinted but took the hint and looked at Michonne's arms. His face fell when he saw the bruises that had formed there. He leaned forward trying to get a better look. Hand shaped bruises. They were barely visible on her dark skin, but visible none the less especially in the daylight. He looked back to her face, wondering what had happened to cause those bruises that she clearly hadn't told him about. He looked back at Carl who was still staring him down. He stared back at the boy. Clearly he knew what had happened. Then it occurred to him. Carl had brought up the encounter with Shane in the barn for a reason. Rick swallowed thickly as realization dawned on him. He needed to talk to her. He could feel his blood starting to boil already and he needed her to tell him that he was wrong.

"Carl," he rumbled causing Michonne to look up at him. His tone had changed and she picked up on it. "Why don't you take Andre inside and get you two something to eat. I wanna talk to Michonne." She gave him a curious look.

"Okay Dad," Carl quickly replied as he holstered his gun and went towards the mother and son. "Com'on Dre."

The little boy gleefully took his hand, having completely forgotten about their almost spat a little while ago. "Keep an eye on him," Michonne said and Carl confirmed he would. "Be careful," she then supplied as a warning to watch himself as well.

"Michonne the house is right there, gees," he said playfully a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "We're not going to California."

"Ha ha, funny," she smiled at him.

Rick waited for the boys to disappear before he spoke. "What happened?" he asked causing the woman's head to snap away from the direction the two boys had just disappeared and back towards him.

She eyed him with a confused look at initially. Then she read the concern on his face and her look turned to one of realization. She turned back to look to where Carl had disappeared too. "That boy…," she started but he interrupted her.

"He didn't say anythang," he corrected her. She turned back to him.

"Well then how do you figure something happened?" she said taking a step towards him. She was becoming defensive. But he wasn't intimidated.

"Because…," he paused and looked down at the ground, trying to figure the best way to go about not ratting his son out, but also not lying to her. "He mentioned that Shane joined you two in the barn last night," he stated. Michonne shifted and rolled her eyes. So Carl had sold her out. "That's all he said," he continued as if reading her thoughts. "Shane was behaving a little weird this morning and you've been a little on edge. You're not yourself today." He just stared at her and she looked down at the ground, her demeanor saying she was over this questioning. He persisted. "Plus, with those bruises on your arms," she reacted by tucking her thumbs in her back pockets, effectively moving her arms and the bruises from his view, "it's hard not to think you got into some type of physical altercation."

"I'm gonna go back in the house now," she said harshly before turning to do just that.

"Hey," he said reaching out to grab her hand. She hurriedly jerked away from him and the other hand went to her sword. She didn't remove it though.

Her actions surprised him, causing him to take a step back. He observed her. He saw her facial expression change from one of rage and a hint of fear to one of sadness and remorse. He'd seen that reaction before, and it turned his stomach.

"Michonne," he said taking a couple of steps towards her. He was almost afraid to ask. "What did he do to you?"

She didn't say anything, just stared up at him. What could she say? That she'd allowed Shane, he arch nemesis in this life to get the jump on her and that he'd shoved his hand down her pants and threatened to do worse and would have if it haven't been for the eleven year old who she was supposed to be protecting, not the other way around.

She was shaken from her self deprecating thoughts when she realized Rick had just stepped by her, and was making his way towards the house.

"No, no, no…Rick" she called breaking into a slight run to catch up to him. She managed to short step him causing him to collide into her. She was knocked back a step or two, but she placed both her hands on his chest to try to stop him from getting around her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, in a harsh whisper. She was torn between being angry at him and being in crisis intervention mode.

"I'm gonna go talk to Shane," he said gruffly, "you won't tell me what happened, but he will."

"Whoa, whoa," she said stepping back as he tried to co around her again. She could tell from the way he said it he had no intentions of 'talking' to Shane. "I don't need you to talk to Shane. I can handle him."

He just stared at her, and it confused her, because she had seen Rick angry before at least she thought. But it seemed like her rational often times sweetheart of a friend had gotten possessed but some time of rage beast, and she didn't quite know what to do with that, him.

She saw his jaw twitch as he tilted his head to the side. He gave her face a once over, but for some reasons, she felt like he wasn't quite seeing her.

"Rick?" she called to him as her brows furrowed. Was he even listening to her?

He stared at her for a moment longer, before he looked her dead in the eyes and nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" she questioned, just to be sure.

"Okay," he affirmed.

She sighed and took her hands off of his chest, allowing him to past. It wasn't until he was almost to the house that she heard his gruff voice calling out seethingly, "Shane!"

Her head snapped in his direction, and she held her breath. He had just made it to the stares and his eyes were searching wildly for any sign of the man.

"Fuck," she breathed out. She readied herself, and quickly made her way up to the front steps where Rick now stood.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked, coming out of the house after hearing Rick's bellowing. "Did something happen?"

"Everything's fine Carol," Michonne reassured her. "Just…," she was quickly cut off by Rick.

"Where's Shane?" he asked. Michonne just looked up at him, begging him to let her handle this.

Carol looked between the two, before answering. "He went up to the shed," she supplied. "Said he was going to check on Randall. Where making the final decision after lunch," she called after him as Rick was already on his way to the shed. Michonne started making her way behind him. "Is something wrong?" Carol asked again, not convinced.

"Everything's fine," Michonne fake smiled. "Could you tell Daryl and T to meet us at the shed. We may need some help with Randall," she lied. She just didn't want to be the only one out there to get between Rick and Shane. Though she considered herself pretty tough, she didn't see herself effectively stopping two men that were bigger than her from ripping each other apart, not with out cutting both of them anyway.

She jogged behind Rick, trying to catch up to him. "Rick, just stop and talk to me for a second," she tried.

He didn't respond, but she kept trying to slow him down, not effectively as they had soon made it the distance to the shed. Rick called out for the man again, and Michonne was relieved when she heard Daryl calling out behind them. "What's going on?" he said jogging across the field, T Dogg a short distance behind him.

Before she could answer, Rick was opening the door to the shed. Michonne opted to follow him but stopped just inside the door and looked around confused.

She soon felt the other two men, making there way in behind her. T Dogg voiced everyone's question, "Where's Randall."

* * *

A/N: Alright guys, I apologize for this being season 2 ishy. And I'm gonna come back and correct the rest of the typos. I have to run and really wanted to get this posted. Reviews are welcomed and appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Okay so again I apologize for taking so long to update. My life has just been on constant transition for a while now. Hopefully, hopefully that will all settle out in the next couple of months. I'm running out of steam and need to find a place and situation to dig into. I hope you guys are still here with me.

And to the person who came into the reviews in a tizzy, bless your heart. It's been a minute now so I will just say that none of what you interpreted that chapter to be was actually what I wrote it to be. At first I thought I was just vague writing but everyone else got it so I'm sorry to say beloved, it's you.

Also, I will try to answer other questions in the reviews if I can keep up with them. Right now I'm exhausted and struggling to keep my eyes open, so I briefly looked back and didn't see any non rhetorical questions. If I missed any I'm sorry, I've taken benadryl and it's kicking in. I'm a light weight lol. If I missed you questions or if you just have questions, do feel free to inbox me or re ask them in the reviews. Hopefully the next time I update I'll be fully lucid.

Enjoy!

* * *

He closed the barn door and looked around for his next move. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' his mind screamed at him, but now was not the time to panic. There was a heard outside the barn currently trying to force its way in with the intention of eating him and his son. He didn't know where they had come from or how Carl even got out to the pasture where he and Shane ended up after 'searching' all afternoon for Randall. He'd known more than not that the young man was dead the moment Shane emerged from the woods claiming he'd gotten away from him but he'd gone along with his little game. He had wanted to call Shane out on his bullshit, but unfortunately, Michonne had been able to talk him down by the time the man returned to the farm. She'd made him all but promise to let her deal with Shane on her own and made it very clear with him that he'd have a bone to pick with her if he made a big deal. She had made it clear that she would handle Shane in her own time. She knew the man would screw up again. It seemed she wouldn't get her chance. Shane was dead. He'd killed him. He hadn't hesitated, he didn't want to, but he hadn't hesitated. Shane was definitely not the same man he knew before the turn, but he still wanted to believe that his best friend was trapped somewhere inside of this monster that had taken his place. That was proven less and less likely, especially when the man had tried to kill him. He'd known when he'd left with Shane to look for Randall. He'd wanted to be wrong, but he'd known.

"Here," he told Carl as he made his way over to the canisters of gasoline. He handed one to the boy and directed him to pour it all over the barn as he did the same with the other canister. He hoped this worked.

* * *

"I can't find Carl," she heard coming from behind her and her head immediately snapped in the woman's direction.

"What?" she heard someone else spit simultaneously.

"He's not upstairs. I can't find him anywhere. I don't know where he is," Lori reiterated.

"Com'on I'll help you look," Carol offered as she hurriedly rushed the woman back inside.

The others went back to shooting, but Michonne hesitated, torn between looking for the boy and continuing to help protect the farm.

"Mommy," Andre called, drawing her attention back to the task at hand. She turned around and looked down. He was staring up, his bright eyes riddled with fear, tears threatening to spill over.

"Shhh," she hushed him, "you're okay, Peanut." She picked up her gun and aimed again at the walkers, deciding that it would be best to continue to protect the farm. If Carl was still nearby, Lori would need all the time she could to find him.

"Com'on," Daryl said tapping her shoulder. "We can lead them away with the cars."

She saw Glenn and Maggie rush by them. She quickly holstered the gun and scooped up Andre.

"Maggie and I'll take the northeast side of the fence," Glenn yelled out before the pair took off.

"The barn is on fire," Jimmy pointed out.

"Rick or Shane must've set the fire. Maybe trying to lead them away from the house," Daryl suggested.

Michonne's heart leapt and plunged at the same time. She'd warned Rick before he'd gone off with Shane that he needed to watch his back. He'd assured her he would. She'd made him promise to let her deal with Shane on her own terms, but she'd known the minute those two stepped away from the group Rick would be forced to deal with his own issues with Shane sooner rather than later. It seems Daryl must've known as well, as his use of the word or when referring to the men. She hoped like hell it was Rick.

"Drive around back and see if you can spot'em," Daryl told Jimmy and the young man sprinted towards the RV.

"''Chonne," she heard Daryl grumble her name. He didn't say anything more, he just gestured towards Jimmy. She nodded and hauled her and her son towards the RV with the young man.

"Mommy?" Dre called again as she sat him on the couch in the RV. He wanted to know why they were leaving everyone else. Why was everyone splitting up? He didn't like it when people left. Sometimes they didn't come back.

"Dre, you're fine," she reassured him again. "Mommy will be right here," she said pointing to the roof top. We have to try to kill the monsters." With that she climbed on top of the counter and popped the hatch open, taking the gun with her. She found a space on top of the RV and secured herself as she resumed taking aim at the mindless feeders invading the farm. She'd been up there less than a minute when she heard him.

"Here!" he yelled. She immediately turned around and spotted him and Carl.

A smile immediately came to her face and she almost forgot for a split second that they were surrounded by corpses trying to feed on them. He continued to yell and Jimmy quickly made his way towards them. She laughed to herself and went back to shooting, making sure there was a safe clearing around the RV from the outside of the fence to allow Rick and Carl to board.

"Michonne!" she heard Carl call as the RV came to a stop. She didn't need to look at him to tell he was smiling. She would get on him about leaving and sneaking off later.

"Go. Go," she heard Rick urging the boy to get on.

"Where did they come from?" Michonne asked as she looked over at the father and son.

"I don't know," he started, "but…,"

He was cut off by two simultaneous screams coming from beneath them. He felt his breath catch in his throat and the look on Michonne's face didn't help.

"Michonne," he called immediately as the woman instantly descended back down into the RV. She didn't answer so he hurried over to the hole she'd disappeared through. "Michonne!" He called again but was only met by Carl's shaky, "Dad."

Those three seconds seemed like hours and his breathing shallowed, not sure if he'd just lost one of his best friends and the three year old he'd grown attached to. He almost lost his footing and fell through the hatch when she suddenly reappeared with the toddler in her arms.

"Take him!" she cried as she thrust the boy up towards the only safe exit now.

He didn't hesitate to grab the little one and pull him through the opening. The child immediately began wailing, cries of 'Mommy' making their way through the tears.

He thrusted Dre into Carl's arms who'd dropped to his knees next to him and the older boy instinctively wrapped his arms around the toddler. He looked back down and only saw Michonne's katana.

"Michonne," he called harshly. What the hell was she doing? He expected to turn back to find her crawling up through the hole after Andre. He poked his head inside of the RV and was met with the horrifying site of Jimmy lying on the floor being torn to shreds by the walkers.

"You can't do anything for'em," he said. She seemed to have only partially heard him as she stepped back completely into his view from the open hatch. "Michonne, com'on!"

That seemed to snap her out of it as she climbed on the table this time and grabbed a hold of his hands and was immediately lifted up onto the roof.

"You okay?" Carl asked, but not being able to hold in the barrage of questions he had long enough for her to answer. "Is my mom okay? Did you see my mom? Did they get inside the house?"

She was too stunned and had too much adrenaline flowing through her veins to answer him. Rick was the first to make it down the back of the RV. He then helped Carl climbed down and Michonne handed Andre down to him. He quickly took the boy and Andre immediately clung to him.

"We gotta get off of this farm," Rick said relaying his plan as she stepped foot on the ground.

"We gotta find Mom," Carl interrupted.

"She's back at the house," Michonne said, finally able to address the boy's concerns. "The others…" she started but was cut short by a walker coming from the side of the RV. They all jumped back, and she grabbed her katana, having dropped the gun inside of the RV. She was better with her sword anyway. She made short work of the walker.

"Com'on," Rick said as he took off and headed back towards the house, Andre still in his arms and Carl beside him. She was right behind him, but when he turned around, there was more space between them as well as two walkers.

He turned to go back to help her. "No!" she yelled at him to stop. "Get them out of here! I'm right behind you." It was a little hard to argue with her after she quickly put the two rotters out of their misery. "Go!" she yelled again as she started behind them. So he went. He went. And he would regret the decision every day for the better part of a year.

"Herschel," we gotta go.

"This is my farm!" Herschel bellowed as he continued to aim and shoot.

"Listen, Michonne and I," Rick said turning around figuring she could talk some sense into Herschel more quickly than he could. He immediately stopped, Carl voicing his thoughts. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know," he mumbled to himself as well as the boy. "Michonne!" he yelled again letting go of Herschel and taking a step back in the direction from which he'd came. He was cut short by a walker, causing Andre to scream. Herschel quickly raised the barrel of the gun to the thing's mouth and blew a hole through its head.

"Rick," Andre cried. He hated how he was just being hauled all over the place and the monsters just kept coming at them.

Rick took another look around the farm, searching for any sign of Michonne. He didn't see her, but he heard her words to him. He had to get Andre and Carl to safety. He'd find her later. "Herschel…," he said again, "we gotta go. We gotta go now." He put his free hand on the man's shoulder and began pulling and pushing him along with them. "Get to the truck, Carl. Now!" They quickly made their way to the truck as the walkers kept coming after them.

* * *

Michonne made her way through the woods. She was exhausted. She'd been on the move the entire night but she couldn't stop. The woods were full of walkers and she wondered if they were all from the heard or if they had been lurking out there the entire time while they were on the farm, thinking they were more out of harm's way than what they actually were. Probably the latter she thought as she remembered the walker that had caused Dale's demise. The only thing that had kept her going was that she had seen Rick climb into the truck with Andre and Carl, Herschel in tow, and they had all made their way off of the farm. She was trying to circle back around to their rendezvous point but she kept getting pushed farther out and off the path she had wanted to take. She took a minute, her back against the tree, katana in hand and closed her eyes, breathing heavily. She just needed a moment…but it seemed she wouldn't get it.

Her eyes popped open again wide as she heard a couple of gunshots go off, one after the other. Far enough apart to let her know that they were meant for different targets but close enough together to let her know that whoever had fired them was probably in trouble. She was instantly on the move. She slowed some when she heard another gunshot that sounded closer than the first two. She wanted to see who she was running towards before allowing herself to be seen. She'd seen enough in the old world to know that she still had to be weary of the living in the new one.

She cut down a few walkers in her path as she made her way closer to the person and heard one more shot. She could tell she was getting closer because the density of the dead grew as she continued on towards the noise. She ran out into the opening but instantly dipped behind a tree once she saw she had found the living being causing the ruckus and drawing the dead.

She took a second to catch her breath then peered out from behind the tree. It took her a second to find the person in the swarm but what she saw surprised her. The first thing she noticed was the blond ponytail, the second was the sweater vest she'd teased the woman about. She saw the woman click the gun once, twice, but no bullets left the barrel. She was out of bullets and exhausted. She watched as Andrea fell to the ground, seemingly giving up, which subsequently gave Michonne her second wind. She went into action, quickly slicing her way through the dead and clearing a path to her friend. She took down the last one just as it was about to descend on the blond and stood back giving the woman a chance to recover and realize she was safe.

She watched as Andrea sat up and blinked her eyes rapidly as a look of recognition came over her face. She could see the woman instantly let down her guard. "Oh God, am I happy to see you." Andrea said.

Michonne replied by extending her hand which Andrea instantly took, pulling herself up off of the ground. They immediately embraced each other.

"What are you doing out here?" Andrea asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," Michonne said breaking the hug but still maintaining contact by holding onto each other's arms.

"That asshole left me," Andrea declared.

"Who?" Michonne asked, having a hard time believing anyone from their camp would do such a thing. Anyone except Shane anyways.

"Rick," Andrea eagerly belted out. Michonne only gave her a look of confusion. "Oh, don't give me that look," Andrea admonished her.

"Andrea…" Michonne said in a questioning voice but she was unsure of what to say next. She didn't have enough information, but surely Andrea had to be wrong.

"He left me Mich," Andrea said again with finality, willing Michonne to accept it. "I was running right towards him and he just threw the kids in the car and left me."

"No Andrea," Michonne said. She'd seen Rick get in the car and leave. She hadn't seen Andrea run up because her focus had immediately went back to getting herself safely off of the overtaken property. "He must not have seen you."

"Oh," Andrea said pulling away from her and finally breaking contact. "Don't give me that. He hates me. They all do. They nearly turned you against me too."

"That's not true," Michonne said taking a defensive stance. Yes, she and Andrea had had their disagreements back at the farm, but that had been all due to the woman's own actions and she hadn't hated the woman. She just wasn't enjoying being around her as much as she had before.

"It is too," Andrea retorted.

"Well if it's true, how come I'm out here with you?" Michonne asked. "Did he leave me too?" She knew she would get Andrea to see her point. The woman had been adamant that Rick was in love with her and was ready to 'kick Lori into a pit of the dead' if it meant he'd have a chance to be with her. Michonne didn't think so, but those were Andrea's word. And if she believed Rick was so in love with her then there was no way she would be able to rationalize him leaving the farm without her without contradicting one of her preconceived notions.

"Andrea, I saw them," she went on to explain after the woman remained quiet. "They were forced to leave. He tried to wait..."

"I was almost to the truck Michonne!" Andrea yelled and tears instantly formed in her eyes and began to fall. "He could have waited."

Michonne just looked at her. She was exhausted. They both were. She looked around to make sure they were safe before drawing the woman into her arms again. Surprisingly Andrea returned the embrace.

"We have to get out of here," Michonne told her. "Get somewhere safe." She pulled back from the hug, but again kept contact as she looked in the woman's eyes. "We have to keep going."

Andrea sniffed and made an effort to suppress her tears. She nodded in response and Michonne wrapped her arm around the woman's shoulders as they both began to make their way back in the direction in which they believed the meeting point should have been.

* * *

"No sign of 'em?" Daryl asked, as a courtesy. A lead into the real reason he'd gone over to the man.

"Naw," Rick grunted out, but maintained his eye sight in the direction he believed Michonne should be coming from.

Daryl nodded then looked back towards the group on the road before turning back to his friend. "Look man, I know you wanna wait for her, but we gotta get off of the highway. It's not safe," the man went on to plead his case. "And with the kids and everything..."

"Yeah, I know," Rick said not wanting to hear anymore of Daryl's spiel. It just reminded him that they'd been at the sight for a few hours and there was still no sign of Michonne. Everyone had been accounted for by either showing up or someone witnessing their demise except for her and Andrea. The group was still waiting on Shane to come back as well. He still hadn't told them about that.

"Com'on," Daryl said gesturing for Rick to follow him back to the group, and he did.

"Alright, we're gonna go," he said when he got closer to them.

"We can't leave them," Beth said. Andre was on her hip and was still looking a little shaken up and confused as to why his mother wasn't there.

"We're just gonna go a little ways off the road," he tried to explain, but was interrupted again.

"But how will they know where to find us?" Carol asked, without giving him a chance to respond. "They could still be out there. Michonne, Shane," she finished thinking that reminding him that at least one of the two people could come looking for them would be enough to persuade Rick to stay. She thought it was working as Rick's hands went to his hips and he rested his weight back on his left leg and looked down at the road. She was just as shocked as the rest of the group when he lifted his head and spoke again.

"He's dead," he said out right, drawing an audible gasp from some of the people in front of him. "It happened while we were out looking for Randall. It…," he took a deep breath and blew it out, deciding that he needed some time alone. He started away from the group, walking a small piece down the road.

This was the first time that he'd had, since it happened, to actually reflect on everything that had occurred between him and his former best friend. His best friend had tried to kill him and he had subsequently been forced to take the man's life. But the thing that may have bothered him the most out of all of this was that he didn't feel as bad about it as he felt he should have. He felt bad about it, but he felt he should have felt worse. A part of him felt that the man deserved it and he could vaguely see that part of him in a corner of his mind snarling and beating his chest[A1] , and that scared the hell out of him. Shane was a danger to the one's he loved. He'd tried to take them away from him and fighting for them was something that he would not apologize for.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned over the fence. It seemed there were two versions of him fighting for control and it was tearing him apart internally.

He felt arms wrap around his midsection and saw a pair of hands come up to rest on his chest. He felt her press her body into his back and he immediately knew who it was.

"I'm sorry," he said. It was the first thing that came to his mind. It was odd, but it was his first reaction.

"Just give them some time," she said trying to offer comfort, but he didn't feel comforted by her words or her actions. "They'll come around. A lot has happened over the past day or two."

He turned around in her arms, finally looking at her. He looked her in the eyes, and he could feel that barbaric asshole egging him on. Telling him to do it. Telling him to test his wife. The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them.

"I did it," he told her.

She just looked at him quizzically, "What are you talking about? Did what?"

"Shane," he stated bluntly. "I killed Shane." He watched her closely, observing her reaction as she stared him down and began backing away from him. He could tell she was judging him, she was choosing in that moment. And he could hear the naïve part of him, telling him to just explain to her what happened, that she would understand. So, he did.

"He lured me out there," he began. "The whole Randall thing, it was a set up. He'd already killed him. He just needed a reason to get me out there to do the same to me," he was still looking her square in the eye, but he wasn't seeing what he hoped he would, but he continued anyway. "He pulled a gun on me, we fought, and I killed him." She just continued to stare, a look of pure disgust now on her face. "I'm sorry," he repeated. He then reached for her, out of habit more than anything and was only somewhat surprised when she slapped his hand away.

He looked at her still, his heart breaking, but his mind telling him to keep trying, knowing the reaction that he would get. He just needed to prove to himself, to justify to himself, that it was okay to feel what he'd been feeling towards her lately. She did not disappoint as he reached for her over and over again and each time, she pulled away from him. He could see the hate in her eyes and he could feel it blossoming out of the cracks in his heart. She rolled her eyes at him and started back towards the group and he watched her walk away from him, and suddenly that asshole was in full control.

He followed her path back towards their group, walking with determination and purpose that he hadn't had when he walked away from them just a short while ago. "Alright everybody listen up…"

* * *

"Com'on" Michonne said, as she motioned for Andrea to come inside. "It's safe. We can spend the night here."

Andrea followed her into the larger garage that looked like it had also been used as a storage shed. She looked around cautiously and cringed internally as she heard the chains clink as the other woman tugged the two partially dismembered walkers, urging them to follow suit. She didn't understand why the woman saw fit to tie two of these things up, but she had to admit, it had worked so far.

It had been a little over a week since the farm fell. And they had been on the run ever since. They had not been able to make their way to the meeting spot on the highway partially because they kept getting derailed by walkers and partially because they were a little lost. After a few days they'd given up, figuring the others would have left by then anyways. So they'd set out on their own to find shelter. It had taken a few days and she had to admit, she'd been the weaker link between the two of them. Somewhere along the way Michonne had come up with the bright idea of chaining two of these things up and using them as camouflage. So here they were.

"You don't look so good," Michonne said breaking her from her thoughts.

"Ah," Andrea said brushing her off, "I just need a good night's rest." She began digging through the things they'd accumulated and pulled out a sleeping bag laying it out on the floor.

Michonne looked around the shed and it didn't take long for her to spot more chain, similar to the ones around the walkers' necks. She searched the shelves and quickly discovered a padlock with the key still in it. She tested it to make sure it still worked.

"You get some rest," she told Andrea. "I'm just gonna tie them up and secure this place."

"Okay," Andrea said before stopping her. "Hey, you still got that lighter?" Michonne turned to the woman and saw she'd began fidgeting with a gas lamp on the floor next to the work table. She dug in her back pocket before pulling out the lighter and tossing it to the woman, hoping she could get the lantern to work since the sun was starting to set in the sky.

It was mostly dark by the time she got the walkers chained up just outside of the shed and got the lock and chain fixed around the main entrance. She put an extra lock on the side door and sat the key on the work table next to the door. She saw that Andrea had gotten the lamp working and had fallen asleep. She sighed to herself as she pulled out her own sleeping bag and began to set up her spot across from Andrea. It didn't take long for her to get settled into her sleeping bag, and not soon after, the nightly tears came. She tried to be quiet as not to wake Andrea, hopefully it would work as a few other nights it had not and the woman had ended up scooting her sleeping bag next to her friend to embrace her as she cried herself to sleep.

"Please be alive," she let out after finally being able to get a breath through the sobs that racked her body. "You have to be alive."

She missed her son. At first, she'd felt elated when she'd seen Rick place her son in the truck and drive off with him. She knew that her son would be safe and that if she'd just figure out a way to get off of the farm and to the road where they had planned to meet if anything had ever gone wrong, she'd see him again. Unfortunately, that hadn't worked out and now she was starting to get scared that she may never see her son or anyone from their group again, and she'd be left to wonder if they'd made it out or if the worst had happened.

She didn't know when, but the tears slowed and she managed to fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

A/N: So that's it for this chapter. I hope you guys like it. Hopefully I can sit down somewhere and get settled in some place. I just feel like I'm a restless soul lol. I really do need to sit down somewhere though. But such is life.

Again please leave reviews (or inbox, either one). I know I've been shitty about updating but honestly more reviews make me feel guiltier about not updating. So if you wanna get back at me about not updating fast enough, get back at me by leaving a reviews and making me feel shitty about it lol.

P.S. I really hope I post this chapter correctly and don't wake up tomorrow with a bunch of people telling me I posted the wrong thing. It was children's benadryl yall!


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